Degeneracy of the \(b\)-boundary in general relativity (Q1969057)

From the discussion: We have shown that in many cases, the \(b\)-boundary has totally degenerate fibres, leading to undesired topological effects. The argument is based on that the divergence of the derivative of the Riemann tensor is sufficiently weak, so that the essential contribution to the singular holonomy group comes from \(R(X,Y)\). As we saw this fails in some cases. Since the infinitesimal holonomy group is generated by expressions of the form \(\nabla_{V_1\dots V_n} (X,Y)\), it might be possible to use higher order derivatives of the Riemann tensor to generate elements in the singular holonomy group. One would then have to go further in the expansion in the proof of Lemma 2, and the conditions would get much more complicated. We gave a simple example of how a quasi-regular singularity can give rise to degenerate fibres. It is very easy to construct examples of quasi-regular singularities with discrete singular holonomy groups, but it is unknown if nondiscrete groups can arise in this way. The most apparent unsolved problem involving the \(b\)-boundary is the structure of the boundary itself. In the FLRW case the boundary has been shown to be a single point. But for the Schwarzschild spacetime, the results are not as conclusive.