A Scale-Critical $μ<\frac38$ Extension Principle for Spherically Symmetric Einstein-Scalar Field System

Abstract

We present a new quantitative, scale-critical $C^1$ extension principle for the spherically symmetric Einstein--scalar field system. We derive estimates for solutions in the causal past of a possibly singular endpoint $\mathcal{O}$ of the center. Assume that there is no trapped surface in this region and assume that the Doppler exponent (blue shift) along each incoming null cone is uniformly bounded. We then prove that the solution can extend regularly across $\mathcal{O}$ provided the mass ratio $μ=2m/r$ satisfies $\supμ<\frac38$. This improves the small-mass-ratio condition in Christodoulou's extension principle by an explicit threshold of order one. Our proof has three new ingredients. First, we derive several new uniform scale-critical pointwise estimates for the scalar field and its derivatives. Second, we obtain refined estimates in an exterior self-similar domain within the triangular causal past region. Third, we establish a family of higher-order Morawetz-type identities and identify the ranges of $μ$, with which there are coercive spacetime estimates. The unweighted identity yields the threshold $μ\leq\frac14$, while employing extra self-similar weight raises the threshold to $μ<\frac38$ and provides a weighted control, which implies that the solution's BV norm along an outgoing null cone is small, so that Christodoulou's theory of bounded variation solutions gives the extension.