Half polarized \(U(1)\) symmetric vacuum spacetimes with AVTD behavior (Q2496833)

The authors continue previous work on the behavior of cosmological solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations near the singularity [the second author and \textit{V. Moncrief}, Classical Quantum Gravity 19, No. 21, 5361--5386 (2002; Zbl 1025.83008)]. The major difference in the present paper is the manifold structure, which is now assumed to be a \(U(1)\) principal bundle over the base \(\Sigma^2 \times {\mathbb R}\) (with an arbitrary compact 2-manifold \(\Sigma^2\)) rather than \(T^3 \times {\mathbb R}\). In their main result the authors show that a half polarization condition is necessary and sufficient for AVTD (asymptotic velocity term dominated) behavior near the singularity.