A timelike extension of fermat's principle in general relativity. Comparisons with the lightlike case (Q4374907)

The author proves the following version of Fermat's principle for timelike geodesics joining a point \(p\) and a timelike curve \(\gamma\) of an arbitrary spacetime \(M\) endowed with Lorentzian metric \(g\): among all the future (or past) pointing curves \(z:[0,1]\mapsto M\) joining \(p\) and \(\gamma\), parametrized by a fixed constant multiple of the proper time, i.e., \(g[\dot z,\dot z]=-a\), \(a>0\), the geodesics are characterized by stationary arrival time. By arrival time, it is meant a smooth parametrization of the curve \(\gamma\), which is interpreted in physical terms as the time measured by a receiver in a relativistic spacetime. The principle was originally stated both for the lightlike and the timelike case by I. Kovner; the lightlike version was proven correctly by V. Perlick. In the paper it is also proven that, under a suitable completeness condition, the arrival time satisfies the Palais--Smale condition in the space of curves satisfying the above assumptions and an \(H^{1,1}\)-regularity condition. The author announces results of existence and multiplicity for timelike geodesics, by means of a Lyusternik-Schnirelman theory and a Morse theory on Banach manifolds; moreover, it is briefly sketched a limit process as \(a\to0\) to get the Morse relations also for the lightlike geodesics joining \(p\) and \(\gamma\).