arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Sergiu Klainerman.
In this survey we review the progress made in the last ten years in understanding the Black Hole Rigidity problem in the setting of smooth spacetimes. We review both local and global results and discuss the main mathematical ideas behind them.
This is the main paper in a sequence in which we give a complete proof of the bounded $L^2$ curvature conjecture. More precisely we show that the time of existence of a classical solution to the Einstein-vacuum equations depends only on the $L^2$-norm of the curvature and a lower bound on the volume radius of the corresponding initial data set. We note that though the result is not optimal with respect to the standard scaling of the Einstein equations, it is nevertheless critical with respect to its causal geometry. Indeed, $L^2$ bounds on the curvature is the minimum requirement necessary to obtain lower bounds on the radius of injectivity of causal boundaries. We note also that, while the first nontrivial improvements for well posedness for quasilinear hyperbolic systems in spacetime dimensions greater than 1+1 (based on Strichartz estimates) were obtained in [Ba-Ch1] [Ba-Ch2] [Ta1] [Ta2] [Kl-R1] and optimized in [Kl-R2] [Sm-Ta], the result we present here is the first in which the full structure of the quasilinear hyperbolic system, not just its principal part, plays a crucial role. To achieve our goals we recast the Einstein vacuum equations as a quasilinear $so(3,1)$-valued Yang-Mills theory and introduce a Coulomb type gauge condition in which the equations exhibit a specific new type of \textit{null structure} compatible with the quasilinear, covariant nature of the equations. To prove the conjecture we formulate and establish bilinear and trilinear estimates on rough backgrounds which allow us to make use of that crucial structure. These require a careful construction and control of parametrices including $L^2$ error bounds which is carried out in [Sz1]-[Sz4], as well as a proof of sharp Strichartz estimates for the wave equation on a rough background which is carried out in \cite{Sz5}.
In his 2007 monograph, D. Christodoulou proved a remarkable result giving a detailed description of shock formation, for small $H^s$-initial conditions ($s$ sufficiently large), in solutions to the relativistic Euler equations in three space dimensions. His work provided a significant advancement over a large body of prior work concerning the long-time behavior of solutions to higher-dimensional quasilinear wave equations, initiated by F. John in the mid 1970's and continued by S. Klainerman, T. Sideris, L. Hörmander, H. Lindblad, S. Alinhac, and others. Our goal in this paper is to give an overview of his result, outline its main new ideas, and place it in the context of the above mentioned earlier work. We also introduce the recent work of J. Speck, which extends Christodoulou's result to show that for two important classes of quasilinear wave equations in three space dimensions, small-data shock formation occurs precisely when the quadratic nonlinear terms fail the classic null condition.
We present a new, fully anisotropic, criterion for formation of trapped surfaces in vacuum. More precisely we provide conditions on null data, concentrated in a neighborhood of a short null geodesic segment (possibly flat everywhere else) whose future development contains a trapped surface. This extends considerably the previous result of Christodoulou \cite{Chr:book} which required instead a uniform condition along all null geodesic generators. To obtain our result we combine Christodoulou's mechanism for the formation of a trapped surface with a new deformation process which takes place along incoming null hypersurfaces.
This memoir contains an overview of the proof of the bounded $L^2$ curvature conjecture. More precisely we show that the time of existence of a classical solution to the Einstein-vacuum equations depends only on the $L^2$-norm of the curvature and a lower bound of the volume radius of the corresponding initial data set. We note that though the result is not optimal with respect to the standard scaling of the Einstein equations, it is nevertheless critical with respect to another, more subtle, scaling tied to its causal geometry. Indeed, $L^2$ bounds on the curvature is the minimum requirement necessary to obtain lower bounds on the radius of injectivity of causal boundaries. We note also that, while the first nontrivial improvements for well posedness for quasilinear hyperbolic systems in spacetime dimensions greater than 1+1 (based on Strichartz estimates) were obtained in \cite{Ba-Ch1}, \cite{Ba-Ch2}, \cite{Ta1}, \cite{Ta2}, \cite{Kl-R1} and optimized in \cite{Kl-R2}, \cite{Sm-Ta}, the result we present here is the first in which the full structure of the quasilinear hyperbolic system, not just its principal part, plays a crucial role. The entire proof is obtained in a sequence of 6 papers.
We revisit the problem of extension of Killing vector-fields in smooth Ricci flat manifolds, and its relevance to the black hole rigidity problem.
We prove two uniqueness theorems for solutions of linear and nonlinear wave equations; the first theorem is in the Minkowski space while the second is in the domain of outer communication of a Kerr black hole. Both theorems concern ill posed Cauchy problems on smooth, bifurcate, characteristic hypersurfaces. In the case of the Kerr space-time this hypersurface is the event horizon of the black hole.
We prove a conditional "no hair" theorem for smooth manifolds: if $E$ is the domain of outer communication of a smooth, regular, stationary Einstein vacuum, and if a technical condition relating the Ernst potential and Killing scalar is satisfied on the bifurcate sphere, then $E$ is locally isometric to the domain of outer communication of a Kerr space-time.
We provide $L^1$ estimates for a class of transport equations containing singular integral operators. While our main application is for a specific problem in General Relativity we believe that the phenomenon which our result illustrates is of a more general interest.
We give a new proof of uniqueness of solutions to the Gross-Pitaevskii hierarchy, first established by Erdos, Schlein and Yau, in a different space, based on space-time estimates.
The main objective of the paper is to prove a geometric version of sharp trace and product estimates on null hypersurfaces with finite curvature flux. These estimates play a crucial role to control the geometry of such null hypersurfaces. The paper is based on an invariant version of the classical Littlewood -Paley theory, in a noncommutative setting, defined via heat flow on surfaces.
We develop a geometric invariant Littlewood-Paley theory for arbitrary tensors on a compact 2 dimensional manifold. We show that all the important features of the classical LP theory survive with estimates which depend only on very limited regularity assumptions on the metric. We give invariant descriptions of Sobolev and Besov spaces and prove some sharp product inequalities. This theory has being developed in connection to the work of the authors on the geometry of null hypersurfaces with a finite curvature flux condition, see \cite{KR1}, \cite{KR3}. We are confident however that it can be applied, and extended, to many different situations.
One of the central difficulties of settling the $L^2$-bounded curvature conjecture for the Einstein -Vacuum equations is to be able to control the causal structure of spacetimes with such limited regularity. In this paper we show how to circumvent this difficulty by showing that the geometry of null hypersurfaces of Enstein-Vacuum spacetimes can be controlled in terms of initial data and the total curvature flux through the hypersurface.
Bilinear estimates for the wave equation in Minkowski space are normally proven using the Fourier transform and Plancherel's theorem. However, such methods are difficult to carry over to non-flat situations (such as wave equations with rough metrics, or with connections with non-zero curvature). In this note we give some techniques to prove these estimates which rely more on physical space methods such as vector fields, tube localization, splitting into coarse and fine scales, and induction on scales (in the spirit of recent papers of Wolff).
We undertake a systematic review of some results concerning local well-posedness of the Cauchy problem for certain systems of nonlinear wave equations, with minimal regularity assumptions on the initial data. Moreover we provide a considerably simplified and unified treatment of these results and provide also complete proofs for large data. The paper is also intended as an introduction to and survey of current research in the very active area of nonlinear wave equations. The key ingredients throughout the survey are the use of the null structure of the equations we consider and, intimately tied to it, bilinear estimates.