Extensions of bundles of null directions

DOI10.1088/0264-9381/16/1/019MaRDI QIDQ4699826zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Pawel Nurowski, Lane P. Hughston, D. C. Robinson

Publication date 18 November 1999

Published in Classical and Quantum Gravity (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9810070

zbMATH Keywords

bundle of null directionsCartan method of equivalenceEinstein equationsEinstein spacetimeselliptic fibrationsequivalence problemfour-dimensional Lorentzian spacetimenon-flat Lorentzian metricPetrov classificationsymmetriesvacuums of type \(N\)

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Einstein's equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems) (83C05) Classes of solutions; algebraically special solutions, metrics with symmetries for problems in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C20)

Abstract: The geometry of P, the bundle of null directions over an Einstein space-time, is studied. The full set of invariants of the natural G-structure on P is constructed using the Cartan method of equivalence. This leads to an extension of P which is an elliptic fibration over the space-time. Examples are given which show that such an extension, although natural, is not unique. A reinterpretation of the Petrov classification in terms of the fibres of an extension of P is presented.

Review text

The authors study the geometry of the bundle \(\mathcal P\) of null directions over a four-dimensional Lorentzian spacetime, as a tool in the investigation of Einstein spaces. A system \((\mathcal I,\mathcal P_0)\) of six 1-forms on \(\mathbb R^6,\) defined initially only on an open set \(\mathcal P_0\subset\mathbb R^6,\) which determine a conformally non-flat Lorentzian 4-metric satisfying Einstein's equations is considered. Examples of solutions of the differential system \((\mathcal I,\mathcal P_0)\) corresponding to all vacuum solutions of type \(N\) are given. It is shown that any conformally non-flat Einstein spacetime defines a differential system similar to \((\mathcal I,\mathcal P_0).\) The authors consider the bundle \(\mathcal P\) of null directions of an Einstein spacetime and study its natural \(G\)-structure using the Cartan method of equivalence. The full set of invariants of the natural \(G\)-structure on \(\mathcal P\) is constructed. This enables to define a differential system on \(\mathcal P\) that has all the properties of \((\mathcal I,\mathcal P_0).\) An extension of this structure leads to the construction of a generalized bundle of null directions over a conformally non-flat Einstein spacetime. An effective algorithm for the equivalence problem for Lorentzian 4-metrics is constructed by making use of this generalized bundle. A way of associating an elliptic curve with any point of a conformally non-flat Einstein spacetime is presented. The elliptic fibration associated in this way with any conformally non-flat Einstein spacetime constitutes a double branch cover of the bundle of null directions. This natural extension of \(\mathcal P\) is not unique and some examples of Einstein spacetimes, with different extension of \(\mathcal P,\) are exhibited. Finally, it is observed that the Petrov-type Weyl tensor of a conformally non-flat Einstein metric can be encoded in the fibration of a 6-manifold over a 4-manifold. A reinterpretation of the Petrov classification in terms of the fibres of an extension of \(\mathcal P\) is presented.

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Cited in

(2)

• Elliptic fibrations associated with the Einstein space–times
• On the bundle of null cones

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