arXiv · 2509.17733
Well-posedness of Ricci Flow in Lorentzian Spacetime and its Entropy Formula
Abstract
This paper attempts to construct monotonic entropy functionals for four-dimensional Lorentzian spacetime under physical boundary conditions, as an extension of Perelman's monotonic entropy functionals constructed for three-dimensional compact Riemannian manifolds. The monotonicity of these entropy functionals is utilized to prove the well-posedness of applying Ricci flow to four-dimensional Lorentzian spacetime for a long flow-time, particularly for the timelike modes which would seem blow up and ill-defined. The general idea is that the Ricci flow of a Lorentzian spacetime metric and the coupled conjugate heat flow of a density on the Lorentzian spacetime as a whole turns out to be the gradient flows of the monotonic functionals for a long flow-time, so the superficial "blow-up" in the individual Ricci flow system or the conjugate heat flow system contradicts the boundedness of the monotonic functionals within finite flow interval, which gives a semi-global control to the whole coupled system. The physical significance and applications of these monotonic entropy functionals in real gravitational systems are also discussed.
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M. J. Luo. 2025-09-22. Well-posedness of Ricci Flow in Lorentzian Spacetime and its Entropy Formula. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0307542
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