On the global evolution problem in \(2+1\) gravity (Q1377242)

The notion of `\(2+1\) gravity' refers to an ambient Lorentzian 3-manifold of constant curvature. In such a space a closed surface of constant mean curvature and genus at least 2 is studied. The existence of a foliation by such CMC surfaces is shown. A simple example is a warped product metric of the ambient space where each level is a (totally umbilic) CMC surface of constant curvature. The proof relies on a reduction of the evolution equation to a time-dependent Hamiltonian system on the cotangent bundle of Teichmüller space.