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We present a numerical study of the local stability of mean curvature flow of rotationally symmetric, complete noncompact hypersurfaces with Type-II curvature blowup. Our numerical analysis employs a novel overlap method that constructs "numerically global" (i.e., with spatial domain arbitrarily large but finite) flow solutions with initial data covering analytically distinct regions. Our numerical results show that for certain prescribed families of perturbations, there are two classes of initial data that lead to distinct behaviors under mean curvature flow. Firstly, there is a "near" class of initial data which lead to the same singular behaviour as an unperturbed solution; in particular, the curvature at the tip of the hypersurface blows up at a Type-II rate no slower than $(T-t)^{-1}$. Secondly, there is a "far" class of initial data which lead to solutions developing a local Type-I nondegenerate neckpinch under mean curvature flow. These numerical findings further suggest the existence of a "critical" class of initial data which conjecturally lead to mean curvature flow of noncompact hypersurfaces forming local Type-II degenerate neckpinches with the highest curvature blowup rate strictly slower than $(T-t)^{-1}$., Comment: 23 pages, 11 figures. Comments are welcome!

The principle of convergence stability for geometric flows is the combination of the continuous dependence of the flow on initial conditions, with the stability of fixed points. It implies that if the flow from an initial state $g_0$ exists for all time and converges to a stable fixed point, then the flows of solutions that start near $g_0$ also converge to fixed points. We show this in the case of the Ricci flow, carefully proving the continuous dependence on initial conditions. Symmetry assumptions on initial geometries are often made to simplify geometric flow equations. As an application of our results, we extend known convergence results to open sets of these initial data, which contain geometries with no symmetries., 18 pages

We prove a nonpolarised analogue of the asymptotic characterization of $T^2$-symmetric Einstein Flow solutions completed recently by LeFloch and Smulevici. In this work, we impose a condition weaker than polarisation and so our result applies to a larger class. We obtain similar rates of decay for the normalized energy and associated quantities for this class. We describe numerical simulations which indicate that there is a locally attractive set for $T^2$-symmetric solutions not covered by our main theorem. This local attractor is distinct from the local attractor in our main theorem, thereby indicating that the polarised asymptotics are unstable., 19 pages, 5 figures

We present a procedure for asymptotic gluing of hyperboloidal initial data sets that preserves the shear-free condition. Our construction is modeled on a previous gluing construction by the last three named authors, but with significant modifications that incorporate the shear-free condition. We rely on the special H\"older spaces, and the corresponding theory for elliptic operators on weakly asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds, introduced by the authors and applied to the Einstein constraint equations in two previous papers., Comment: 50 pages, 1 figure

We prove an asymptotic stability result for a linear coupled hyperbolic-elliptic system on a large class of singular background spacetimes in CMC gauge on the n-torus. At each spatial point these background spacetimes are perturbations of Kasner-like solutions of the Einstein-scalar field equations which are not required to be close to the homogeneous and isotropic case. We establish the existence of a homeomorphism between Cauchy data for this system and a set of functions naturally associated with the asymptotics in the contracting direction, which we refer to as asymptotic data. This yields a complete characterization of the degrees of freedom of all solutions of this system in terms of their asymptotics. Spatial derivative terms can in general not be fully neglected which yields a clarification of the notion of asymptotic velocity term dominance (AVTD)., 58 pages. Fixed several further typos. Further clarifications of the results. Results unchanged. Agrees with published version

We study "warped Berger" solutions $\big(\mc S^1\times\mc S^3,G(t)\big)$ of Ricci flow: generalized warped products with the metric induced on each fiber $\{s\}\times\mathrm{SU}(2)$ a left-invariant Berger metric. We prove that this structure is preserved by the flow, that these solutions develop finite-time neckpinch singularities, and that they asymptotically approach round product metrics in space-time neighborhoods of their singular sets, in precise senses. These are the first examples of Ricci flow solutions without rotational symmetry that become asymptotically rotationally symmetric locally as they develop local finite-time singularities., Comment: We correct a miscalculation of some terms in equation (22) and its subsequent uses. The main results of the paper are unchanged, because the methods employed in the proofs are robust enough to give the needed estimates, with only insignificant changes of constants

We prove local existence for the second order Renormalization Group flow initial value problem on closed Riemannian manifolds (M, g) in general dimensions, for initial metrics whose sectional curvatures KP satisfy the condition 1 + αKP > 0, at all points p ∈ M and planes P ⊂ TpM . This extends results previously proven for two and three dimensions. The second order approximation of the Renormalization Group flow for the nonlinear sigma model of quantum field theory, which we label the RG-2 flow, is specified by the PDE system (1) ∂ ∂t g = −2 Rc− 2 Rm . Here g is a Riemannian metric, Rc is its Ricci curvature, Rmij = g ggRiklmRjpqn, and α is a positive parameter. We note that for our purposes here, α can assume any real value. For α = 0, this system (1) reduces to the Ricci flow. One can see that the sign of the right hand side, which is roughly 1+α×Curvature, should have an impact on the behavior of the flow, and this has been confirmed in various settings: in particular, the size of the term influences the parabolicity of the flow. Oliynyk has shown in [10] that on a two-dimensional manifold, if the Gaussian curvature K satisfies the condition 1 + αK > 0, then the flow is (weakly) parabolic; while if 1 + αK 0 is satisfied for all sectional curvatures KP . In this note we extend this curvature criterion for short-time existence for RG-2 flow to all dimensions, as first announced in [7]. Our main result is the following: Theorem 1. Let (M, g0) be a closed n-dimensional Riemannian manifold. If 1 + αKP > 0 for all sectional curvatures KP (g0), at all points p ∈M and planes P ⊂ TpM , then there exists a unique solution g(t) of the initial value problem ∂ ∂tg = −2 Rc− α 2 Rm , g(0) = g0, on some time interval [0, T ). Remark 2. In [10], Oliynyk finds open subspaces of the space of smooth metrics that are invariant under the two-dimensional RG-2 flow, and for which the flow remains parabolic (resp. backward parabolic). We are currently investigating this for general dimensions. Proof. To prove the theorem, we calculate the principal symbol of the DeTurck-modified version of RG-2 flow, which is generated by the PDE system (compare with (1) above) (2) ∂ ∂t gij = −2Rij + LWu,ggij − α 2 Rmij . Here Wu,g = −giju−1 jk gg(∇puql− 1 2∇lupq) is the standard vector field usually chosen to modify the Ricci flow into the related (parabolic) DeTurck version of Ricci flow, with u a fixed metric. Letting φt be the one-parameter family of diffeomorphisms generated by the vector field −Wu,g, then φt g is a solution of the RG-2 flow (see also [8]). As in the analogous Ricci flow case, if one can show (for a class of choices of the initial metric) that the PDE system (2) is parabolic, then short-time existence holds for the RG-2 flow (1) as well as for the DeTurck-modified flow (2). Date: January 7, 2014. KG is partially supported by the NSF under grant DGE-1144155. CG is partially supported by the Simons Foundation Collaboration Grant for Mathematicians 283083. JI is partially supported by the NSF under grant PHY-1306441 at the University of Oregon. He also wishes to thank the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California, for support under grant 0932078 000. Some of this work was carried out while JI was in residence at MSRI during the fall of 2013. 1 2 KARSTEN GIMRE, CHRISTINE GUENTHER, AND JAMES ISENBERG To calculate the symbol of the system (2), we first linearize the flow. For the first two terms of the right hand side of (2), this linearization effectively produces the Laplacian (see [4], or Theorem 2.1 in [5]). For the remaining term, Rm, it is useful to recall the formula for the variation of the Riemann curvature tensor with respect to the metric (see pg. 74 in [2]): [DRmg(h)] l ijk = [ ∂ ∂e Rm(g + eh) ∣∣∣∣ e=0 ]l

We consider analytic, vacuum spacetimes that admit compact, non-degenerate Cauchy horizons. Many years ago we proved that, if the null geodesic generators of such a horizon were all \textit{closed} curves, then the enveloping spacetime would necessarily admit a non-trivial, horizon-generating Killing vector field. Using a slightly extended version of the Cauchy-Kowaleski theorem one could establish the existence of infinite dimensional, analytic families of such `generalized Taub-NUT' spacetimes and show that, generically, they admitted \textit{only} the single (horizon-generating) Killing field alluded to above. In this article we relax the closure assumption and analyze vacuum spacetimes in which the generic horizon generating null geodesic densely fills a 2-torus lying in the horizon. In particular we show that, aside from some highly exceptional cases that we refer to as `ergodic', the non-closed generators always have this (densely 2-torus-filling) geometrical property in the analytic setting. By extending arguments we gave previously for the characterization of the Killing symmetries of higher dimensional, stationary black holes we prove that analytic, 4-dimensional, vacuum spacetimes with such (non-ergodic) compact Cauchy horizons always admit (at least) two independent, commuting Killing vector fields of which a special linear combination is horizon generating. We also discuss the \textit{conjectures} that every such spacetime with an \textit{ergodic} horizon is trivially constructable from the flat Kasner solution by making certain `irrational' toroidal compactifications and that degenerate compact Cauchy horizons do not exist in the analytic case., Comment: 55 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0805.1451

We generalize Ringstr\"om's global future causal stability results (Ringstr\"om 2009) for certain expanding cosmological solutions of the Einstein-scalar field equations to solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell-scalar field system. In particular, after noting that the power law inflationary spacetimes $(M^{n+1}, \hat{g}, \hat{\phi})$ considered by Ringstr\"om in Ringstr\"om (2009) are solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell-scalar field system (with exponential potential) as well as of the Einstein-scalar field system (with the same exponential potential), we consider (nonlinear) perturbations of initial data sets of these spacetimes which include electromagnetic perturbations as well as gravitational and scalar perturbations. We show that if (as in Ringstr\"om, 2009) we focus on pairs of relatively scaled open sets $U_{R_0} \subset U_{4R_0}$ on an initial slice of $(M^{n+1}, \hat{g})$, and if we choose a set of perturbed data which on $ U_{4R_0}$ is sufficiently close to that of $(M^{n+1}, \hat{g},\hat{\phi},\hat{A}=0)$, then in the maximal globally hyperbolic spacetime development $(M^{n+1},g,\phi,A)$ of this data via the Einstein-Maxwell-scalar field equations, all causal geodesics emanating from $U_{R_0}$ are future complete (just as in $(M^{n+1}, \hat{g})$). We also verify the controlled future asymptotic behavior of the fields in the spacetime developments of the perturbed data sets., Comment: 56 pages

Einstein’s theory of general relativity models the physical universe using spacetimes which satisfy Einstein’s gravitational field equations. To date, Einstein’s theory has been enormously successful in modeling observed gravitational phenomena, both at the astrophysical and the cosmological levels. The collection of spacetime solutions of Einstein’s equations which have been effectively used for modeling the physical universe is a very small subset of the full set of solutions. Among this larger set, there are many spacetimes in which strange phenomena related to time are present: There are solutions containing regions in which determinism and the predictability of experimental outcomes breaks down (the Taub-NUT spacetimes), and there others in which the breakdown of determinism occurs everywhere (the Godel universe). Should the existence of these strange solutions lead us to question the usefulness of Einstein’s theory in modeling physical phenomena? Should it instead lead us to seriously search for strange time phenomena in physics? Or should we simply treat these solutions as anomalous (if embarrassing) distractions which we can ignore? In this essay, after introducing some basic ideas of special and general relativity and discussing what it means for a spacetime to be a solution of Einstein’s equations, we explore the use of spacetime solutions for modeling astrophysical events and cosmology. We then examine some of the spacetime solutions in which determinism and causal relationships break down, we relate such phenomena to Penrose’s “Strong Cosmic Censorship Conjecture”, and finally we discuss the questions noted above.

For each set of (freely chosen) seed data, the conformal method reduces the Einstein constraint equations to a system of elliptic equations, the conformal constraint equations. We prove an admissibility criterion, based on a (conformal) prescribed scalar curvature problem, which provides a necessary condition on the seed data for the conformal constraint equations to (possibly) admit a solution. We then consider sets of asymptotically Euclidean (AE) seed data for which solutions of the conformal constraint equations exist, and examine the blowup properties of these solutions as the seed data sets approach sets for which no solutions exist. We also prove that there are AE seed data sets which include a Yamabe nonpositive metric and lead to solutions of the conformal constraints. These data sets allow the mean curvature function to have zeroes., 27 pages

Gu and Zhu (2008 Commun. Anal. Geom. 16 467–94) have shown that type-II Ricci flow singularities develop from nongeneric rotationally symmetric Riemannian metrics on . In this paper, we describe and provide plausibility arguments for a detailed asymptotic profile and rate of curvature blow-up that we predict such solutions exhibit.

Given a collection of N solutions of the (3 + 1) Einstein constraint equations which are asymptotically Euclidean and vacuum near infinity, we show how to construct a new solution of the constraints which is itself asymptotically Euclidean, and which contains specified sub-regions of each of the N given solutions. This generalizes earlier work which handled the time-symmetric case, thus providing a construction of large classes of initial data for the many body problem in general relativity.

We establish the existence of smooth vacuum Gowdy solutions, which are asymptotically velocity term dominated (AVTD) and have T3-spatial topology, in an infinite dimensional family of generalized wave gauges. These results show that the AVTD property, which is known to hold for solutions in areal coordinates, is stable to perturbations with respect to the gauge source functions. Our proof is based on an analysis of the singular initial value problem for the Einstein vacuum equations in the generalized wave gauge formalism, and provides a framework which we anticipate to be useful for more general spacetimes., 39 pages

We study the phenomenon of Type-II curvature blow-up in mean curvature flows of rotationally symmetric noncompact embedded hypersurfaces. Using analytic techniques based on formal matched asymptotics and the construction of upper and lower barrier solutions enveloping formal solutions with prescribed behavior, we show that for each initial hypersurface considered, a mean curvature flow solution exhibits the following behavior near the "vanishing" time $T$: (1) The highest curvature concentrates at the tip of the hypersurface (an umbilic point), and for each choice of the parameter $\gamma>1/2$, there is a solution with the highest curvature blowing up at the rate $(T-t)^{-(\gamma +1/2)}$. (2) In a neighborhood of the tip, the solution converges to a translating soliton which is a higher-dimensional analogue of the "Grim Reaper" solution for the curve-shortening flow. (3) Away from the tip, the flow surface approaches a collapsing cylinder at a characteristic rate dependent on the parameter $\gamma$., Comment: Change of title. Final version to appear in Journal f\"ur die reine und angewandte Mathematik

We consider the Einstein–Maxwell-fluid constraint equations, and make use of the conformal method to construct and parametrize constant-mean-curvature hyperboloidal initial data sets that satisfy the shear-free condition. This condition is known to be necessary in order that a spacetime development admit a regular conformal boundary at future null infinity; see (Andersson and Chruściel 1994 Commun. Math. Phys. 161 533–68). We work with initial data sets in a variety of regularity classes, primarily considering those data sets whose geometries are weakly asymptotically hyperbolic, as defined in (Allen et al 2015 arXiv:1506.03399). These metrics are C 1,1 conformally compact, but not necessarily C 2 conformally compact. In order to ensure that the data sets we construct are indeed shear-free, we make use of the conformally covariant traceless Hessian introduced in (Allen et al 2015 arXiv:1506.03399). We furthermore construct a class of initial data sets with weakly asymptotically hyerbolic metrics that may be only C 0,1 conformally compact; these data sets are insufficiently regular to make sense of the shear-free condition.

We introduce a class of "weakly asymptotically hyperbolic" geometries whose sectional curvatures tend to $-1$ and are $C^0$, but are not necessarily $C^1$, conformally compact. We subsequently investigate the rate at which curvature invariants decay at infinity, identifying a conformally invariant tensor which serves as an obstruction to "higher order decay" of the Riemann curvature operator. Finally, we establish Fredholm results for geometric elliptic operators, extending the work of Rafe Mazzeo and John M. Lee to this setting. As an application, we show that any weakly asymptotically hyperbolic metric is conformally related to a weakly asymptotically hyperbolic metric of constant negative curvature., Final version submitted to journal

In a previous work, we used a polarization condition to show that there is a family of U(1) symmetric solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations on Σ×S1×R (Σ any two-dimensional manifold) such that each exhibits AVTD1 behavior in the neighbourhood of its singularity. Here we consider the general case of S1 bundles over the base Σ×R and determine a condition, called the half polarization condition, necessary and sufficient in our context, for AVTD behavior near the singularity.

We determine sufficient and necessary conditions for a spherically symmetric initial data set to satisfy the dynamical horizon conditions in the spacetime development. The constraint equations reduce to a single second order linear master equation, which leads to a systematic construction of all spherically symmetric dynamical horizons (SSDH) satisfying certain boundedness conditions. We also find necessary and sufficient conditions for a given spherically symmetric spacetime to contain a SSDH., latex, 19 pages, no figures

We present a local gluing construction for general relativistic initial data sets. The method applies to generic initial data, in a sense which is made precise. In particular the trace of the extrinsic curvature is not assumed to be constant near the gluing points, which was the case for previous such constructions. No global conditions on the initial data sets such as compactness, completeness, or asymptotic conditions are imposed. As an application, we prove existence of spatially compact, maximal globally hyperbolic, vacuum space-times without any closed constant mean curvature spacelike hypersurface., Comment: Final published version, CMP. 19 pages

The conformal formulation provides a method for constructing and parametrizing solutions of the Einstein constraint equations by mapping freely chosen sets of conformal data to solutions, provided a certain set of coupled, elliptic determined PDEs (whose expression depends on the chosen conformal data) admit a unique solution. For constant mean curvature (CMC) data, it is known in almost all cases which sets of conformal data allow these PDEs to have solutions, and which do not. For non CMC data, much less is known. Here we exhibit the first class of non CMC data for which we can prove that no solutions exist., Comment: To be published in the volume of Classical and Quantum Gravity in honour of Vincent Moncrief

For almost half of the one hundred year history of Einstein's theory of general relativity, Strong Cosmic Censorship has been one of its most intriguing conjectures. The SCC conjecture addresses the issue of the nature of the singularities found in most solutions of Einstein's gravitational field equations: Are such singularities generically characterized by unbounded curvature? Is the existence of a Cauchy horizon (and the accompanying extensions into spacetime regions in which determinism fails) an unstable feature of solutions of Einstein's equations? In this short review article, after briefly commenting on the history of the SCC conjecture, we survey some of the progress made in research directed either toward supporting SCC or toward uncovering some of its weaknesses. We focus in particular on model versions of SCC which have been proven for restricted families of spacetimes (e.g., the Gowdy spacetimes), and the role played by the generic presence of Asymptotically Velocity Term Dominated behavior in these solutions. We also note recent work on spacetimes containing weak null singularities, and their relevance for the SCC conjecture., Comment: Accepted for publication in Surveys in Differential Geometry, Volume 20

We establish a general gluing theorem for constant mean curvature solutions of the vacuum Einstein constraint equations. This allows one to take connected sums of solutions or to glue a handle (wormhole) onto any given solution. Away from this handle region, the initial data sets we produce can be made as close as desired to the original initial data sets. These constructions can be made either when the initial manifold is compact or asymptotically Euclidean or asymptotically hyperbolic, with suitable corresponding conditions on the extrinsic curvature. In the compact setting a mild nondegeneracy condition is required. In the final section of the paper, we list a number ways this construction may be used to produce new types of vacuum spacetimes., Comment: 42 pages, 4 figures, minor typos corrected, 1 reference added. To appear in Comm. Math. Phys. v3 (v2 had old Latex source file)

Brady, Creighton and Thorne have proposed a choice of the lapse and shift for numerical evolutions in general relativity that extremizes a measure of the rate of change of the three-metric (BCT gauge). We investigate existence and uniqueness of this gauge, and comment on its use in numerical time evolutions., 5 pages, RevTex

Wave maps (i.e. nonlinear sigma models) with torsion are considered in 2+1 dimensions. Global existence of smooth solutions to the Cauchy problem is proven for certain reductions under a translation group action: invariant wave maps into general targets, and equivariant wave maps into Lie group targets. In the case of Lie group targets (i.e. chiral models), a geometrical characterization of invariant and equivariant wave maps is given in terms of a formulation using frames

A longstanding conjecture by Belinskii, Khalatnikov, and Lifshitz that the singularity in generic gravitational collapse is spacelike, local, and oscillatory is explored analytically and numerically in spatially inhomogeneous cosmological spacetimes. With a convenient choice of variables, it can be seen analytically how nonlinear terms in Einstein's equations control the approach to the singularity and cause oscillatory behavior. The analytic picture requires the drastic assumption that each spatial point evolves toward the singularity as an independent spatially homogeneous universe. In every case, detailed numerical simulations of the full Einstein evolution equations support this assumption., Comment: 7 pages includes 4 figures. Uses Revtex and psfig. Received "honorable mention" in 1998 Gravity Research Foundation essay contest. Submitted to Mod. Phys. Lett. A

Numerical investigation of a class of inhomogeneous cosmological spacetimes shows evidence that at a generic point in space the evolution toward the initial singularity is asymptotically that of a spatially homogeneous spacetime with Mixmaster behavior. This supports a long-standing conjecture due to Belinskii et al. on the nature of the generic singularity in Einstein's equations., 4 pages plus 4 figures. A sentence has been deleted. Accepted for publication in PRL

One of the most effective ways of constructing and studying solutions of Einstein’s gravitational field equations is via the Initial Value Problem. According to this approach, one constructs spacetime solutions by choosing initial data on a spacelike manifold representing the initial state of a model universe, and one then evolves the data into a spacetime solution representing the full history of that model universe.

We prove a global existence theorem (with respect to a geometrically- defined time) for globally hyperbolic solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations which admit a $T^2$ isometry group with two-dimensional spacelike orbits, acting on $T^3$ spacelike surfaces., 38 pages, 0 figures, LaTeX

We discuss the set of constraints for Einstein-aether theories, comparing the flat background case with what is expected when the gravitational fields are dynamic. We note potential pathologies occurring in the weak gravitational field limit for some of the Einstein-aether theories.

In earlier work [Nonlinearity 24 (2011), 2265–2280], we derived formal matched asymptotic profiles for families of Ricci flow solutions developing Type-II degenerate neckpinches. In the present work, we prove that there do exist Ricci flow solutions that develop singularities modeled on each such profile. In particular, we show that for each positive integer k ≥ 3, there exist compact solutions in all dimensions m ≥ 3 that become singular at the rate ( T - t ) - 2 + 2 / k $(T-t)^{-2+2/k}$ .

We study the behavior of the second order Renormalization Group flow on locally homogeneous metrics on closed three-manifolds. In the cases $\mathbb R^3$ and $\text{SO}(3)\times \R$, the flow is qualitatively the same as the Ricci flow. In the cases $\text{H}(3)$ and $\text{H}(2)\times \R$, if the curvature is small, then the flow expands as in the Ricci flow case, while if the curvature is large, then the flow contracts and forms a singularity in finite time. The main focus of the paper is the flow on the $\text{SU}(2)$, $\text{Nil}$, $\text{Sol}$, and $\text{SL}(2,\R)$ 3-geometries, with two of the three principal directions set equal. The configuration spaces for these geometries are two dimensional, and we can consequently apply phase plane techniques to the study. For the $\text{SU}(2)$ case, the flow is everywhere qualitatively the same as Ricci flow. For the $\text{Nil}$, $\text{Sol}$, and $\text{SL}(2,\R)$ cases, we show that the configuration space is partitioned into two regions which are delineated by a solution curve of the flow that depends on the coupling parameter: in one of the regions, the flow develops cigar or pancake singularities characteristic of the Ricci flow, while in the other both directions shrink. In the $\text{Nil}$ case we obtain a characterization of the full 3-dimensional flow.

We set up the singular initial value problem for quasilinear hyperbolic Fuchsian systems of first order and establish an existence and uniqueness theory for this problem with smooth data and smooth coefficients (and with even lower regularity). We apply this theory in order to show the existence of smooth (generally not analytic) T2-symmetric solutions to the vacuum Einstein equations, which exhibit AVTD (asymptotically velocity term dominated) behavior in the neighborhood of their singularities and are polarized or half-polarized., 78 pages

We show that asymptotically hyperbolic solutions of the Einstein constraint equations with constant mean curvature can be glued in such a way that their asymptotic regions are connected., Comment: 37 pages; 2 figures

We prove that if a stationary, real analytic, asymptotically flat vacuum black hole spacetime of dimension $n\geq 4$ contains a non-degenerate horizon with compact cross sections that are transverse to the stationarity generating Killing vector field then, for each connected component of the black hole's horizon, there is a Killing field which is tangent to the generators of the horizon. For the case of rotating black holes, the stationarity generating Killing field is not tangent to the horizon generators and therefore the isometry group of the spacetime is at least two dimensional. Our proof relies on significant extensions of our earlier work on the symmetries of spacetimes containing a compact Cauchy horizon, allowing now for non closed generators of the horizon., 57 pages

In earlier work, carrying out numerical simulations of the Ricci flow of families of rotationally symmetric geometries on $S3$, we have found strong support for the contention that (at least in the rotationally symmetric case) the Ricci flow for a ``critical'' initial geometry - one which is at the transition point between initial geometries (on $S^3$) whose volume-normalized Ricci flows develop a singular neck pinch, and other initial geometries whose volume normalized Ricci flows converge to a round sphere - evolves into a ``degenerate neck pinch.'' That is, we have seen in this earlier work that the Ricci flows for the critical geometries become locally cylindrical in a neighborhood of the initial pinching, and have the maximum amount of curvature at one or both of the poles. Here, we explore the behavior of these flows at the poles, and find strong support for the conjecture that the Bryant steady solitons accurately model this polar flow., 17 pages, 5 figures

The Einstein-scalar field theory can be used to model gravitational physics with scalar field matter sources. We discuss the initial value formulation of this field theory, and show that the ideas of Leray can be used to show that the Einstein-scalar field system of partial differential equations is well-posed as an evolutionary system. We also show that one can generate solutions of the Einstein-scalar field constraint equations using conformal methods.

As a step toward understanding the analytic behavior of Type-III Ricci flow singularities, i.e. immortal solutions that exhibit |Rm, Comment: This is an expanded version that proves linear stability of all explicitly known nonproduct examples of homogeneous expanding Ricci solitons on nilpotent or solvable Lie groups. (To appear in Int. Math. Res. Not.)

We discuss the Ricci flow on homogeneous 4-manifolds. After classifying these manifolds, we note that there are families of initial metrics such that we can diagonalize them and the Ricci flow preserves the diagonalization. We analyze the long time behavior of these families. We find that if a solution exists for all time, then the flow exhibits a type III singularity in the sense of Hamilton., 32 pages

We use the conformal method to obtain solutions of the Einstein-scalar field gravitational constraint equations. Handling scalar fields is a bit more challenging than handling matter fields such as fluids, Maxwell fields or Yang-Mills fields, because the scalar field introduces three extra terms into the Lichnerowicz equation, rather than just one. Our proofs are constructive and allow for arbitrary dimension (>2) as well as low regularity initial data., 31 pages

We consider the timelike minimal surface problem in Minkowski spacetimes and show local and global existence of such surfaces having arbitrary dimension $\geq 2$ and arbitrary co-dimension, provided they are initially close to a flat plane., Comment: 9 pages

We establish an optimal gluing construction for general relativistic initial data sets. The construction is optimal in two distinct ways. First, it applies to generic initial data sets and the required (generically satisfied) hypotheses are geometrically and physically natural. Secondly, the construction is completely local in the sense that the initial data is left unaltered on the complement of arbitrarily small neighborhoods of the points about which the gluing takes place. Using this construction we establish the existence of cosmological, maximal globally hyperbolic, vacuum space-times with no constant mean curvature spacelike Cauchy surfaces., Comment: Final published version - PRL, 4 pages

Initial data for solutions of Einstein’s gravitational field equations cannot be chosen freely: the data must satisfy the four Einstein constraint equations. We first discuss the geometric origins of the Einstein constraints and the role the constraint equations play in generating solutions of the full system. We then discuss various ways of obtaining solutions of the Einstein constraint equations, and the nature of the space of solutions.

We obtain a global existence result for the Einstein equations. We show that in the maximal Cauchy development of vacuum $T^2$ symmetric initial data with nonvanishing twist constant, except for the special case of flat Kasner initial data, the area of the $T^2$ group orbits takes on all positive values. This result shows that the areal time coordinate $R$ which covers these spacetimes runs from zero to infinity, with the singularity occurring at R=0., The appendix which appears in version 1 has a technical problem (the inequality appearing as the first stage of (52) is not necessarily true), and since the appendix is unnecessary for the proof of our results, we leave it out. version 2 -- clarifications added, version 3 -- reference corrected

A combination of qualitative analysis and numerical study indicates that vacuum $T^2$ symmetric spacetimes are, generically, oscillatory., Comment: 2 pages submitted to the Ninth Marcel Grossmann Proceedings; v2, "all known cases" changed to "various known cases" in the first paragraph

We prove that there are no restrictions on the spatial topology of asymptotically flat solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations in (n+1)-dimensions. We do this by gluing a solution of the vacuum constraint equations on an arbitrary compact manifold to an asymptotically Euclidean solution of the constraints on R^n. For any compact manifold which does not admit a metric of positive scalar curvature, this provides for the existence of asymptotically flat vacuum spacetimes with no maximal slices. Our main theorem is a special case of a more general gluing construction for nondegenerate solutions of the vacuum constraint equations which have some restrictions on the mean curvature, but for which the mean curvature is not necessarily constant. This generalizes the construction [IMP] (gr-qc/0109045), which is restricted to constant mean curvature data., 14 pages, v2 is a substantial revision of the previous version: superfluous condition removed from main theorem and applications to the existence of spacetimes with no maximal Cauchy surfaces added

The first step in the building of a spacetime solution of Einstein's gravitational field equations via the initial value formulation is finding a solution of the Einstein constraint equations. We recall the conformal method for constructing solutions of the constraints and we recall what it tells us about the parameterization of the space of such solutions. One would like to know how to construct solutions which model particular physical phenomena. One useful step towards this goal is learning how to glue together known solutions of the constraint equations. We discuss recent results concerning such gluing., Comment: Write-up of my GR16 talk, 18 pages

We use the Fuchsian algorithm to study the behavior near the singularity of certain families of U(1) Symmetric solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations (with the U(1) isometry group acting spatially). We consider an analytic family of polarized solutions with the maximum number of arbitrary functions consistent with the polarization condition (one of the ``gravitational degrees of freedom'' is turned off) and show that all members of this family are asymptotically velocity term dominated (AVTD) as one approaches the singularity. We show that the same AVTD behavior holds for a family of ``half polarized'' solutions, which is defined by adding one extra arbitrary function to those characterizing the polarized solutions. (The full set of non-polarized solutions involves two extra arbitrary functions). We begin to address the issue of whether AVTD behavior is independent of the choice of time foliation by showing that indeed AVTD behavior is seen for a wide class of choices of harmonic time in the polarized and half-polarized (U(1) Symmetric vacuum) solutions discussed here. \, Comment: 42 pges

We use qualitative arguments combined with numerical simulations to argue that, in the approach to the singularity in a vacuum solution of Einstein's equations with ${T}^{2}$ isometry, the evolution at a generic point in space is an endless succession of Kasner epochs, punctuated by bounces in which either a curvature term or a twist term becomes important in the evolution equations for a brief time. Both curvature bounces and twist bounces may be understood within the context of local mixmaster dynamics although the latter have never been seen before in spatially inhomogeneous cosmological spacetimes.