arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Helmut Friedrich.
We describe our present understanding of the relations between the behaviour of asymptotically flat Cauchy data for Einstein's vacuum field equations near space-like infinity and the asymptotic behaviour of their evolution in time at null infinity.
We show that the spin-2 equations on Minkowski space in the gauge of the `regular finite initial value problem at space-like infinity' imply estimates which, together with the transport equations on the cylinder at space-like infinity, allow us to obtain for a certain class of initial data information on the behaviour of the solution near space-like and null infinity of any desired precision.
We discuss various properties of the conformal field equations and their consequences for the asymptotic structure of space-times.
We discuss properties of conformal geodesics on general, vacuum, and warped product space-times and derive a system of conformal deviation equations. The results are used to show how to construct on the Schwarzschild-Kruskal space-time global conformal Gauss coordinates which extends smoothly and without degeneracy to future and past null infinity.
We prove the existence of a large class of asymptotically flat initial data with non-vanishing mass and angular momentum for which the metric and the extrinsic curvature have asymptotic expansions at space-like infinity in terms of powers of a radial coordinate.
We discuss how asymptotic quantities, originally introduced on null infinity in terms of Bondi-type gauge conditions, can be calculated near space-like infinity to any desired precision.
We consider smooth electrovac spacetimes which represent either (A) an asymptotically flat, stationary black hole or (B) a cosmological spacetime with a compact Cauchy horizon ruled by closed null geodesics. The black hole event horizon or, respectively, the compact Cauchy horizon of these spacetimes is assumed to be a smooth null hypersurface which is non-degenerate in the sense that its null geodesic generators are geodesically incomplete in one direction. In both cases, it is shown that there exists a Killing vector field in a one-sided neighborhood of the horizon which is normal to the horizon. We thereby generalize theorems of Hawking (for case (A)) and Isenberg and Moncrief (for case (B)) to the non-analytic case.
The intimate relations between Einstein's equation, conformal geometry, geometric asymptotics, and the idea of an isolated system in general relativity have been pointed out by Penrose many years ago. A detailed analysis of the interplay of conformal geometry with Einstein's equation allowed us to deduce from the conformal properties of the field equations a method to derive under various assumptions definite statements about the feasibility of the idea of geometric asymptotics. More recent investigations have demonstrated the possibility to analyse the most delicate problem of the subject -- the behaviour of asymptotically flat solutions to Einstein's equation in the region where ``null infinity meets space-like infinity'' -- to an arbitrary precision. Moreover, we see now that the, initially quite abstract, analysis yields methods for dealing with practical issues. Numerical calculations of complete space-times in finite grids without cut-offs become feasible now. Finally, already at this stage it is seen that the completion of these investigations will lead to a clarification and deeper understanding of the idea of an isolated system in Einstein's theory of gravitation. In the following I wish to give a survey of the circle of ideas outlined above, emphasizing the interdependence of the structures and the naturalness of the concepts involved.