arXiv subjects

Melanie Graf

Publications and source records attributed to Melanie Graf.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

On the affine parametrization of null geodesics in low regularity

In low-regularity spacetimes and Lorentzian length spaces, achronal causal curves play the role of null (pre-)geodesics. Because of the lack of a geodesic equation, they do not come with a canonical parametrization. In this context, we discuss a notion of affine parametrization via limits of affinely parametrized timelike geodesics. However, we point out a major drawback: an example where this approximation procedures gives a non-unique result, in a way that even completeness or incompleteness of the limit null geodesic is not well-defined. This example involves discontinuous gluing of two Lorentzian metrics across a null hypersurface to give a well-behaved Lorentzian length space and as such is, just like the parametrization problem itself, manifestly Lorentzian. In view of this, we explore possibilities for a Penrose-type singularity theorem using timelike geodesics.

math.DG↗

arXiv2025

Equivalence of the null energy condition to variable lower bounds on the timelike Ricci curvature for $C^2$-Lorentzian metrics

The null energy or null convergence condition (NEC) is one of the fundamental assumptions necessary for many celebrated results from Lorentzian Geometry and Mathematical General Relativity. As such there have been several recent efforts to find a good generalization of this condition to the new setting of Lorentzian length spaces or metric measure spacetimes. One important property any such generalization should fulfill is consistency with the classical formulation for a class of spacetimes as large as possible. The purpose of this note is to show that the recent reformulation of the NEC by McCann as variable lower timelike Ricci curvature bounds (arXiv:2304.14341) remains equivalent to the classical NEC not just for smooth but even for $C^2$-metrics, where McCann's original proof needs to be modified.

math.DG↗

arXiv2025

Hawking's singularity theorem for Lipschitz Lorentzian metrics

We prove Hawking's singularity theorem for spacetime metrics of local Lipschitz regularity. The proof rests on (1) new estimates for the Ricci curvature of regularising smooth metrics that are based upon a quite general Friedrichs-type lemma and (2) the replacement of the usual focusing techniques for timelike geodesics -- which in the absence of a classical ODE-theory for the initial value problem are no longer available -- by a worldvolume estimate based on a segment-type inequality that allows one to control the volume of the set of points in a spacelike surface that possess long maximisers.

math.DG↗

arXiv2024

$C^{0}$-inextendibility of FLRW spacetimes within a subclass of axisymmetric spacetimes

Starting from the proof of the $C^0$-inextendibility of Schwarzschild by Sbierski, the past decade has seen renewed interest in showing low-regularity inextendibility for known spacetime models. Specifically, a lot of attention has been paid to FLRW spacetimes and there is an ever growing array of results in the literature. Apart from hoping to provide a concise summary of the state of the art we present an extension of work by Galloway and Ling on $C^0$-inextendibility of certain FLRW spacetimes within a subclass of spherically symmetric spacetimes, to $C^0$-inextendibility within a subclass of axisymmetric spacetimes. Notably our result works in the case of flat FLRW spacetimes with $a(t)\to 0$ for $t\to 0^+$, a setting where other known $C^0$-inextendibility results for FLRW spacetimes due to Sbierski do not apply.

math.DG↗

arXiv2023

Coordinates are messy -- not only in General Relativity

The coordinate freedom of General Relativity makes it challenging to find mathematically rigorous and physically sound definitions for physical quantities such as the center of mass of an isolated gravitating system. We will argue that a similar phenomenon occurs in Newtonian Gravity once one ahistorically drops the restriction that one should only work in Cartesian coordinates when studying Newtonian Gravity. This will also shed light on the nature of the challenge of defining the center of mass in General Relativity. Relatedly, we will give explicit examples of asymptotically Euclidean relativistic initial data sets which do not satisfy the Regge--Teitelboim parity conditions often used to achieve a satisfactory definition of center of mass. These originate in our joint work with Jan Metzger. This will require appealing to Bartnik's asymptotic harmonic coordinates.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Uniqueness of maximal spacetime boundaries

Given an extendible spacetime one may ask how much, if any, uniqueness can in general be expected of the extension. Locally, this question was considered and comprehensively answered in a recent paper of Sbierski, where he obtains local uniqueness results for anchored spacetime extensions of similar character to earlier work for conformal boundaries by Chru\'sciel. Globally, it is known that non-uniqueness can arise from timelike geodesics behaving pathologically in the sense that there exist points along two distinct timelike geodesics which become arbitrarily close to each other interspersed with points which do not approach each other. We show that this is in some sense the only obstruction to uniqueness of maximal future boundaries: Working with extensions that are manifolds with boundary we prove that, under suitable assumptions on the regularity of the considered extensions and excluding the existence of such ''intertwined timelike geodesics'', extendible spacetimes admit a unique maximal future boundary extension. This is analogous to results of Chru\'sciel for the conformal boundary.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Intrinsic flat stability of the positive mass theorem for asymptotically hyperbolic graphical manifolds

The rigidity of the Riemannian positive mass theorem for asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds states that the total mass of such a manifold is zero if and only if the manifold is isometric to the hyperbolic space. This leads to study the stability of this statement, that is, if the total mass of an asymptotically hyperbolic manifold is almost zero, is this manifold close to the hyperbolic space in any way? Motivated by the work of Huang, Lee and Sormani for asymptotically flat graphical manifolds with respect to intrinsic flat distance, we show the intrinsic flat stability of the positive mass theorem for a class of asymptotically hyperbolic graphical manifolds by adapting the positive answer to this question provided by Huang, Lee and the third named author.

math.DG↗

arXiv2022

Well-posedness theory for degenerate parabolic equations on Riemannian manifolds

We consider the degenerate parabolic equation $$ \partial_t u +\mathrm{div} {\mathfrak f}_{\bf x}(u)=\mathrm{div}(\mathrm{div} ( A_{\bf x}(u) ) ), \ \ {\bf x} \in M, \ \ t\geq 0 $$ on a smooth, compact, $d$-dimensional Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$. Here, for each $u\in {\mathbb R}$, ${\bf x}\mapsto {\mathfrak f}_{\bf x}(u)$ is a vector field and ${\bf x}\mapsto A_{\bf x}(u)$ is a $(1,1)$-tensor field on $M$ such that $u\mapsto \langle A_{\bf x}(u) {\boldsymbol ξ},{\boldsymbol ξ} \rangle$, ${\boldsymbol ξ}\in T_{\bf x} M$, is non-decreasing with respect to $u$. The fact that the notion of divergence appearing in the equation depends on the metric $g$ requires revisiting the standard entropy admissibility concept. We derive it under an additional geometry compatibility condition and, as a corollary, we introduce the kinetic formulation of the equation on the manifold. Using this concept, we prove well-posedness of the corresponding Cauchy problem.

math.AP↗

arXiv2022

Galerkin-type methods for strictly parabolic equations on compact Riemannian manifolds

We prove existence of weak solutions to the Cauchy problem corresponding to various strictly parabolic equations on a compact Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$. This also includes strictly parabolic equations with stochastic forcing with linear diffusion. Existence is proved through a variant of the Galerkin method and can be used to construct a convergent finite element method.

math.AP↗

arXiv2022

Hawking-type singularity theorems for worldvolume energy inequalities

The classical singularity theorems of R. Penrose and S. Hawking from the 1960s show that, given a pointwise energy condition (and some causality as well as initial assumptions), spacetimes cannot be geodesically complete. Despite their great success, the theorems leave room for physically relevant improvements, especially regarding the classical energy conditions as essentially any quantum field theory necessarily violates them. While singularity theorems with weakened energy conditions exist for worldline integral bounds, so called worldvolume bounds are in some cases more applicable than the worldline ones, such as the case of some massive free fields. In this paper we study integral Ricci curvature bounds based on worldvolume quantum strong energy inequalities. Under the additional assumption of a - potentially very negative - global timelike Ricci curvature bound, a Hawking type singularity theorem is proven. Finally, we apply the theorem to a cosmological scenario proving past geodesic incompleteness in cases where the worldline theorem was inconclusive.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Lorentzian area and volume estimates for integral mean curvature bounds

In the present paper we establish area and volume estimates for spacetimes satisfying the strong energy condition in terms of the area and the $L^n$-norm of the second fundamental form or the mean curvature of an initial Cauchy hypersurface. We believe that these estimates will lay some of the groundwork in establishing new convergence results for Cauchy developments $(M_j, g_j)$ of suitably converging initial data $(Σ_j ,h_j ,K_j )$.

math.DG↗

arXiv2021

Generalized cones as Lorentzian length spaces: Causality, curvature, and singularity theorems

We study generalizations of Lorentzian warped products with one-dimensional base of the form $I\times_f X$, where $I$ is an interval, $X$ is a length space and $f$ is a positive continuous function. These generalized cones furnish an important class of Lorentzian length spaces in the sense of [Kunzinger, Sämann; Ann. Glob. Anal. Geom. 54(3):399--447, 2018], displaying optimal causality properties that allow for explicit descriptions of all underlying notions. In addition, synthetic sectional curvature bounds of generalized cones are directly related to metric curvature bounds of the fiber $X$. The interest in such spaces comes both from metric geometry and from General Relativity, where warped products underlie important cosmological models (FLRW spacetimes). Moreover, we prove singularity theorems for these spaces, showing that non-positive lower timelike curvature bounds imply the existence of incomplete timelike geodesics.

math.MG↗

arXiv2020

A vanishing dynamic capillarity limit equation with discontinuous flux

We prove existence and uniqueness of a solution to the Cauchy problem corresponding to the equation \begin{equation*} \begin{cases} \partial_t u_{\varepsilon,δ} +\mathrm{div} {\mathfrak f}_{\varepsilon,δ}({\bf x}, u_{\varepsilon,δ})=\varepsilon Δu_{\varepsilon,δ}+δ(\varepsilon) \partial_t Δu_{\varepsilon,δ}, \ \ {\bf x} \in M, \ \ t\geq 0 u|_{t=0}=u_0({\bf x}). \end{cases} \end{equation*} Here, ${\mathfrak f}_{\varepsilon,δ}$ and $u_0$ are smooth functions while $\varepsilon$ and $δ=δ(\varepsilon)$ are fixed constants. Assuming ${\mathfrak f}_{\varepsilon,δ} \to {\mathfrak f} \in L^p( \mathbb{R}^d\times \mathbb{R};\mathbb{R}^d)$ for some $1<p<\infty$, strongly as $\varepsilon\to 0$, we prove that, under an appropriate relationship between $\varepsilon$ and $δ(\varepsilon)$ depending on the regularity of the flux ${\mathfrak f}$, the sequence of solutions $(u_{\varepsilon,δ})$ strongly converges in $L^1_{loc}(\mathbb{R}^+\times \mathbb{R}^d)$ towards a solution to the conservation law $$ \partial_t u +\mathrm{div} {\mathfrak f}({\bf x}, u)=0. $$ The main tools employed in the proof are the Leray-Schauder fixed point theorem for the first part and reduction to the kinetic formulation combined with recent results in the velocity averaging theory for the second.

math.AP↗

arXiv2020

Singularity theorems for $C^1$-Lorentzian metrics

Continuing recent efforts in extending the classical singularity theorems of General Relativity to low regularity metrics, we give a complete proof of both the Hawking and the Penrose singularity theorem for $C^1$-Lorentzian metrics - a regularity where one still has existence but not uniqueness for solutions of the geodesic equation. The proofs make use of careful estimates of the curvature of approximating smooth metrics and certain stability properties of long existence times for causal geodesics. On the way we also prove that for globally hyperbolic spacetimes with a $C^1$-metric causal geodesic completeness is $C^1$-fine stable. This improves a similar older stability result of Beem and Ehrlich where they also used the $C^1$-fine topology to measure closeness but still required smoothness of all metrics. Lastly, we include a brief appendix where we use some of the same techniques in the Riemannian case to give a proof of the classical Myers Theorem for $C^1$-metrics.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

A conformal infinity approach to asymptotically $\text{AdS}_2\times S^{n-1}$ spacetimes

It is well known that the spacetime $\text{AdS}_2\times S^2$ arises as the `near horizon' geometry of the extremal Reisser-Nordstrom solution, and for that reason it has been studied in connection with the AdS/CFT correspondence. Motivated by a conjectural viewpoint of Juan Maldacena, the authors in [4] studied the rigidity of asymptotically $\text{AdS}_2\times S^2$ spacetimes satisfying the null energy condition. In this paper, we take an entirely different and more general approach to the asymptotics based on the notion of conformal infinity. This involves a natural modification of the usual notion of timelike conformal infinity for asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes. As a consequence we are able to obtain a variety of new results, including similar results to those in [4] (but now allowing both higher dimensions and more than two ends) and a version of topological censorship.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

Rigidity of asymptotically $AdS_2 \times S^2$ spacetimes

The spacetime $AdS_2 \times S^2$ is well known to arise as the 'near horizon' geometry of the extremal Reissner-Nordstrom solution, and for that reason it has been studied in connection with the AdS/CFT correspondence. Here we consider asymptotically $AdS_2 \times S^2$ spacetimes that obey the null energy condition (or a certain averaged version thereof). Supporting a conjectural viewpoint of Juan Maldacena, we show that any such spacetime must have a special geometry similar in various respects to $AdS_2 \times S^2$, and under certain circumstances must be isometric to $AdS_2 \times S^2$.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2018

The Hawking-Penrose singularity theorem for $C^{1,1}$-Lorentzian metrics

We show that the Hawking--Penrose singularity theorem, and the generalisation of this theorem due to Galloway and Senovilla, continue to hold for Lorentzian metrics that are of $C^{1, 1}$-regularity. We formulate appropriate weak versions of the strong energy condition and genericity condition for $C^{1,1}$-metrics, and of $C^0$-trapped submanifolds. By regularisation, we show that, under these weak conditions, causal geodesics necessarily become non-maximising. This requires a detailed analysis of the matrix Riccati equation for the approximating metrics, which may be of independent interest.

math-ph↗

arXiv2018

Maximizers in Lipschitz spacetimes are either timelike or null

We prove that causal maximizers in $C^{0,1}$ spacetimes are either timelike or null. This question was posed in [17] since bubbling regions in $C^{0,α}$ spacetimes ($α<1$) can produce causal maximizers that contain a segment which is timelike and a segment which is null, cf. [3]. While $C^{0,1}$ spacetimes do not produce bubbling regions, the causal character of maximizers for spacetimes with regularity at least $C^{0,1}$ but less than $C^{1,1}$ was unknown until now. As an application we show that timelike geodesically complete spacetimes are $C^{0,1}$-inextendible.

gr-qc↗