General Relativistic Scalar Field Models in the Large

It is known that, in an asymptotically flat spacetime, null infinity cannot act as an initial-value surface for massive real scalar fields. Exploiting tools proper of harmonic analysis on hyperboloids and global norm estimates for the wave operator, we show that it is possible to circumvent such obstruction at least in Minkowski spacetime. Hence we project norm-finite solutions of the Klein-Gordon equation of motion in data on null infinity and, eventually, we interpret them ...

When Einstein's equations for an asymptotically flat, vacuum spacetime are reexpressed in terms of an appropriate conformal metric that is regular at (future) null infinity, they develop apparently singular terms in the associated conformal factor and thus appear to be ill-behaved at this (exterior) boundary. In this article however we show, through an enforcement of the Hamiltonian and momentum constraints to the needed order in a Taylor expansion, that these apparently sing...

The hyperboloidal initial value problem is addressed in the context of Numerical Relativity, motivated by its use of hyperboloidal slices - smooth spacelike slices that reach future null infinity, the "place" in spacetime where radiation is to be extracted. This is beneficial for studying the global properties of isolated systems and unambiguously extracting their gravitational radiation. The present approach implements the Einstein equations as a free evolution, using the BS...

This talk reports on recent progress toward the semiglobal study of asymptotically flat spacetimes within numerical relativity. The development of a 3D solver for asymptotically Minkowski-like hyperboloidal initial data has rendered possible the application of Friedrich's conformal field equations to astrophysically interesting spacetimes. As a first application, the whole future of a hyperboloidal set of weak initial data has been studied, including future null and timelike ...

We address the hyperboloidal initial value problem in the context of Numerical Relativity, motivated by its evolution on hyperboloidal slices: smooth spacelike slices that reach future null infinity, the "location" in spacetime where radiation is to be extracted. Our approach uses the BSSN and Z4 formulations and a time-independent conformal factor. The resulting system of PDEs includes formally diverging terms at null infinity. Here we discuss a regularized numerical scheme ...

We consider an approach to the hyperboloidal evolution problem based on the Einstein equations written for a rescaled metric. It is shown that a conformal scale factor can be freely prescribed a priori in terms of coordinates in a well-posed hyperboloidal initial value problem such that the location of null infinity is independent of the time coordinate. With an appropriate choice of a single gauge source function each of the formally singular conformal source terms in the eq...

The present article considers time symmetric initial data sets for the vacuum Einstein field equations which in a neighbourhood of infinity have the same massless part as that of some static initial data set. It is shown that the solutions to the regular finite initial value problem at spatial infinity for this class of initial data sets extend smoothly through the critical sets where null infinity touches spatial infinity if and only if the initial data sets coincide with st...

This thesis is concerned with the development and application of conformal techniques to numerical calculations of asymptotically flat spacetimes. The conformal compactification technique enables us to calculate spatially unbounded domains, thereby avoiding the introduction of an artificial timelike outer boundary. We construct in spherical symmetry an explicit scri-fixing gauge, i.e. a conformal and a coordinate gauge in which the spatial coordinate location of null infinity...

We extend the work in our earlier article [4] to show that time-periodic, asymptotically-flat solutions of the Einstein equations analytic at scri, whose source is one of a range of scalar-field models, are necessarily stationary. We also show that, for some of these scalar-field sources, in stationary, asymptotically-flat solutions analytic at scri, the scalar field necessarily inherits the symmetry. To prove these results we investigate miscellaneous properties of massless ...

We are interested in the global dynamics of a massive scalar field evolving under its own gravitational field and, in this paper, we study spherically symmetric solutions to Einstein's field equations coupled with a Klein-Gordon equation with quadratic potential. For the initial value problem we establish a global existence theory when initial data are prescribed on a future light cone with vertex at the center of symmetry. A suitably generalized solution in Bondi coordinates...