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We prove that equality in the Minkowski inequality for asymptotically flat static manifolds is achieved only by slices of Schwarzschild space. To show this, we establish uniqueness of *quasi-spherical* static metrics: rotationally symmetric regions of Schwarzschild are the only static vacuum metrics which are quasi-spherical with vanishing shear vector. In addition, we observe that the static Minkowski inequality extends to all dimensions for a connected boundary and to asymptotically flat static manifolds of any positive decay order. Altogether, this yields a robust rigidity criterion for Schwarzschild space. Using this criterion, we recover Israel's static black hole uniqueness theorem under this mild decay assumption. Likewise, the uniqueness theorems for photon surfaces and static metric extensions from the prequel extend to all dimensions under these weaker asymptotics. Finally, as a notable by-product of our analysis, we establish regularity of weak inverse mean curvature flow in asymptotically flat manifolds -- that is, a weak IMCF is eventually smooth in an arbitrary asymptotically flat background., Comment: 57 pages. The main rigidity theorem (theorem 1.3) has been strengthened -- the mean-convex boundary assumption may be removed if the manifold is asymptotically flat of order \tau >0 (see Section 2), which yields the complete rigidity statement for these manifolds. Because of the upgraded rigidity statement, we also included a new proof of static black hole uniqueness in section 8

We prove two rigidity results for surfaces lying in the standard null hypersurfaces of Schwarzschild spacetime satisfying certain mean curvature type equations. The first is for the equation $\alpha_H = - d\log |H|$ studied in \cite{WWZ}. The second is for the mean curvature vector of constant norm. The latter is related to the Liouville and Obata Theorem in conformal geometry., Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure

In this paper, we study the Minkowski-type inequality for asymptotically flat static manifolds $(M^{n}, g)$ with boundary and with dimension $ n < 8$ that was establishedby McCormick. First, we show that any asymptotically flat static $(M^{n},g)$ which achieves the equality and has CMC or equipotential boundary is isometric to a rotationally symmetric region of the Schwarzschild manifold. Then, we apply conformal techniques to derive a new Minkowski-type inequality for the level sets of bounded static potentials. Taken together, these provide a robust approach to detecting rotational symmetry of asymptotically flat static systems. As an application, we prove global uniqueness of static metric extensions for the Bartnik data induced by both Schwarzschild coordinate spheres and Euclidean coordinate spheres in dimension $n < 8$ under the natural condition of Schwarzschild stability. This generalizes an earlier result of Miao. We also establish uniqueness for equipotential photon surfaces with small Einstein-Hilbert energy. This is interesting to compare with other recent uniqueness results for static photon surfaces and black holes., Comment: 37 pages, no figures. Correction made in the definition of Schwarzschild stability, asymptotic considerations clarified, and higher-dimensional result included for equipotetnial photon surfaces. Final version to appear in TAMS

In this article, we present the definitive transformation formulae of the mass aspect and angular momentum aspect under BMS transformations. Two different approaches that lead to the same formulae are taken. In the first approach, the formulae are derived by reading off the aspect functions from the curvature tensor. While in the second and more traditional approach, we read them off from the metric coefficients. As an application of the angular momentum aspect transformation formula, we directly verify a relation concerning the Dray-Streubel angular momentum. It also enables us to reinterpret our calculations in terms of differential forms on null infinity, and leads to an exact expression of the Drey-Streubel angular momentum of a general section. The formulae we obtained played crucial roles in our recent work on supertranslation invariant charges, and resolved some inconsistencies in the literature., Comment: 44 pages

We give a simple proof to the computation of ADM mass of the static extensions of small spheres in Wiygul \cite{W1, W2}. It makes use of the mass formula $m = \frac{1}{4\pi} \int_{\partial M} \frac{\partial V}{\partial \nu}$ for an asymptotically flat static manifold with boundary.

We introduce a notion of "cross-section continuity" as a criterion for the viability of definitions of angular momentum, $J$, at null infinity: If a sequence of cross-sections, ${\mathcal C}_n$, of null infinity converges uniformly to a cross-section ${\mathcal C}$, then the angular momentum, $J_n$, on ${\mathcal C}_n$ should converge to the angular momentum, $J$, on ${\mathcal C}$. The Dray-Streubel (DS) definition of angular momentum automatically satisfies this criterion by virtue of the existence of a well defined flux associated with this definition. However, we show that the one-parameter modification of the DS definition proposed by Compere and Nichols (CN) -- which encompasses numerous other alternative definitions -- does not satisfy cross-section continuity. On the other hand, we prove that the Chen-Wang-Yau (CWY) definition does satisfy the cross-section continuity criterion., Comment: 13 pages, no figures; further details given for the calculations of section 3

In general relativity, an idealized distant observer is situated at future null infinity where light rays emitted from the source approach. This article concerns conserved quantities such as mass, energy-momentum, angular momentum, and center of mass at future null infinity. The classical definitions of Bondi mass at future null infinity ascertains the mass radiated away in gravitational waves distinctively. However, the same question for other conserved quantities such as angular momentum has been a subtle issue since the discovery of "supertranslation ambiguity" in the 1960's. Recently, new definitions of angular momentum and center of mass were proposed and proved to be free of such ambiguity [12,14]. These new definitions arise as limits of the Chen-Wang-Yau quasilocal conserved quantities, which are based on the theory of optimal isometric embedding and quasilocal mass of Wang-Yau. It is the purpose of this note to discuss these recent developments, Comment: Contribution to the book in honor of Elliott Lieb's 90th birthday. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2010.14059, arXiv:2003.07732

The supertranslation invariance of the Chen-Wang-Yau (CWY) angular momentum in the Bondi-Sachs formalism/gauge was ascertained by the authors in \cite{CKWWY_evol, CWWY_atmp}. In this article, we study the corresponding problem in the double null gauge. In particular, supertranslation ambiguity of this gauge is identified and the CWY angular momentum is proven to be free of this ambiguity. A similar result is obtained for the CWY center of mass integral.

The asymptotic symmetry of an isolated gravitating system, or the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs (BMS) group, contains an infinite-dimensional subgroup of supertranslations. Despite decades of study, the difficulties with the "supertranslation ambiguity" persisted in making sense of fundamental notions such as the angular momentum carried away by gravitational radiation. The issues of angular momentum and center of mass were resolved by the authors recently. In this paper, we address the issues for conserved charges with respect to both the classical BMS algebra and the extended BMS algebra. In particular, supertranslation ambiguity of the classical charge for the BMS algebra, as well as the extended BMS algebra, is completely identified. We then propose a new invariant charge by adding correction terms to the classical charge. With the presence of these correction terms, the new invariant charge is then shown to be free from any supertranslation ambiguity. Finally, we prove that both the classical and invariant charges for the extended BMS algebra are invariant under the boost transformations., Comment: 41 pages

The convex body isoperimetric conjecture in the plane asserts that the least perimeter to enclose given area inside a unit disk is greater than inside any other convex set of area $\pi$. In this note we confirm two cases of the conjecture: domains symmetric to both coordinate axes and perturbations of unit disk., Comment: 4 figures

LIGO's successful detection of gravitational waves has revitalized the theoretical understanding of the angular momentum carried away by gravitational radiation. An infinite dimensional supertranslation ambiguity has presented an essential difficulty for decades of study. Recent advances were made to address and quantify the supertranslation ambiguity in the context of compact binary coalescence. Here we present the first definition of angular momentum in general relativity that is completely free from supertranslation ambiguity. The new definition was derived from the limit of the quasilocal angular momentum defined previously by the authors. A new definition of center of mass at null infinity is also proposed and shown to be supertranslation invariant. Together with the classical Bondi-Sachs energy-momentum, they form a complete set of conserved quantities at null infinity that transform according to basic physical laws., Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure

We study how conserved quantities such as angular momentum and center of mass evolve with respect to the retarded time at null infinity, which is described in terms of a Bondi-Sachs coordinate system. These evolution formulae complement the classical Bondi mass loss formula for gravitational radiation. They are further expressed in terms of the potentials of the shear and news tensors. The consequences that follow from these formulae are (1) Supertranslation invariance of the fluxes of the CWY conserved quantities. (2) A conservation law of angular momentum \`a la Christodoulou. (3) A duality paradigm for null infinity. In particular, the supertranslation invariance distinguishes the CWY angular momentum and center of mass from the classical definitions., Comment: 40 pages, references added and typos corrected

There are two important statements regarding the Trautman-Bondi mass at null infinity: one is the positivity, and the other is the Bondi mass loss formula, which are both global in nature. In this note, we compute the limit of the Wang-Yau quasi-local mass on unit spheres at null infinity of an asymptotically flat spacetime in the Bondi-Sachs coordinates. The quasi-local mass leads to a local description of the radiation that is purely gravitational at null infinity. In particular, the quasi-local mass is evaluated in terms of the news function of the Bondi-Sachs coordinates., Comment: 11 pages

In this note, we compute the limit of the Wang-Yau quasi-local mass on unit spheres at spatial infinity of an asymptotically flat initial data set. Similar to the small sphere limit of the Wang-Yau quasi-local mass, we prove that the leading order term of the quasi-local mass recovers the stress-energy tensor. For a vacuum spacetime, the quasi-local mass decays faster and the leading order term is related to the Bel-Robinson tensor. Several new techniques of evaluating quasilocal mass are developed in this note., Comment: 24 pages

We give a brief review of the definition of the Wang-Yau quasilocal mass and discuss the evaluation of which on surfaces of unit size at null infinity of an axi-symmetric spacetime in Bondi-van der Burg-Metzner coordinates., Comment: Contribution to MG15

We calculate the limits of the quasi-local angular momentum and center-of-mass defined by Chen-Wang-Yau \cite{CWY} for a family of spacelike two-spheres approaching future null infinity in an asymptotically flat spacetime admitting a Bondi-Sachs expansion. Our result complements earlier work of Chen-Wang-Yau \cite{CWY2}, where the authors calculate the limits of the quasi-local energy and linear momentum at null infinity. Finiteness of the center-of-mass limit requires that the spacetime be in the so-called center-of-mass frame, a mild assumption on the mass aspect function amounting to vanishing of linear momentum at null infinity. With this condition and the assumption that the Bondi mass is non-trivial, we obtain explicit expressions for the angular momentum and center-of-mass at future null infinity in terms of the observables appearing in the Bondi-Sachs expansion of the spacetime metric., Comment: The formula of angular momentum corrected (Theorem 11), Introduction rewritten, add 1 figure

This article considers the quasi-local energy in reference to a general static spacetime. We follow the approach developed by the authors in [19, 20, 7, 9] and define the quasi-local energy as a difference of surface Hamiltonians, which are derived from the Einstein-Hilbert action. The new quasi-local energy provides an effective gauge independent measurement of how far a spacetime deviates away from the reference static spacetime on a finitely extended region., Comment: 16 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1603.02975

We generalize Brendle's geometric inequality considered in \cite{B} to static manifolds. The inequality bounds the integral of inverse mean curvature of an embedded mean-convex hypersurface by geometric data of the horizon. As a consequence, we obtain a reverse Penrose inequality on static asymptotically locally hyperbolic manifolds in the spirit of Chru\'{s}ciel and Simon \cite{CS}.

The classical Minkowski formula is extended to spacelike codimension-two submanifolds in spacetimes which admit "hidden symmetry" from conformal Killing-Yano two-forms. As an application, we obtain an Alexandrov type theorem for spacelike codimension-two submanifolds in a static spherically symmetric spacetime: a codimension-two submanifold with constant normalized null expansion (null mean curvature) must lie in a shear-free (umbilical) null hypersurface. These results are generalized for higher order curvature invariants. In particular, the notion of mixed higher order mean curvature is introduced to highlight the special null geometry of the submanifold. Finally, Alexandrov type theorems are established for spacelike submanifolds with constant mixed higher order mean curvature, which are generalizations of hypersurfaces of constant Weingarten curvature in the Euclidean space., Comment: 38 pages. To appear in J. Differential Geometry

We show that any metric on $S^2$ with Gauss curvature $K \geq -\kappa$ admits a $C^{1,1}$-isometric embedding into the hyperbolic space with sectional curvature $-\kappa$. We also give a sufficient condition for a metric on $S^2$ to be isometrically embedded into anti-de Sitter spacetime with the prescribed cosmological time function., Comment: 27 pages

A time-flat condition on spacelike 2-surfaces in spacetime is considered here. This condition is analogous to constant torsion condition for curves in three dimensional space and has been studied in [2, 4, 5, 12, 13]. In particular, any 2-surface in a static slice of a static spacetime is time-flat. In this article, we address the question in the title and prove several local and global rigidity theorems for such surfaces in the Minkowski spacetime., Comment: 10 pages. To appear in Math. Res. Lett