Asymptotics of solutions of the Einstein equations with positive cosmological constant (Q707503)

Space-time manifolds with accelerated expansion have come to play an important role in modern cosmology. The accelerating phase may be in the early universe or at the present epoch: inflation and quintessence. The simplest way to produce a model with accelerated expansion which solves the Einstein equations is to introduce a positive cosmological constant [\textit{W. H. Kegel}, Neuere Beobachtungen der kosmischen Hintergrundstrahlung. In: Die Erfindung des Universums? Neue Überlegungen zur philosophischen Kosmologie, W. G. Saltzer, P. Eisenhardt, D. Kurth, R. E. Zimmermann, Herausgeber, pp. 126--142, Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, Leipzig 1997; \textit{N. Straumann}, On the cosmological constant problems and the astronomical evidence for a homogeneous energy density with negative pressure. Poincaré Seminar 2002, Vacuum Energy, Renormalization, pp. 7--51 (Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel) (2003; Zbl 1054.83044)]. Because of recent exciting cosmological observations, the cosmological constant has again become a central issue, both for cosmology and particle physics. A positive cosmological constant simplifies the asymptotics of forever expanding cosmological solutions of the Einstein equations. In the paper under review, a careful analysis on the level of formal power series is carried out for vacuum space-times of finite dimension and perfect fluid space-times with linear equation of state in space-time dimension 4 [\textit{A. A. Starobinsky}, Isotropization of arbitrary cosmological expansion given an effective cosmological constant. JETP Lett. 37, 66--69 (1983)]. For equations of state stiffer than radiation evidence for development of large gradients, analogous to spikes in Gowdy space-times, is found [\textit{S. Kichenassamy} and \textit{A. D. Rendall}, Analytic description of singularities in Gowdy spacetimes. Classical Quantum Gravity 15, 1339--1355 (1998; Zbl 0949.83050); \textit{A. D. Rendall} and \textit{M. Weaver}, Manufacture of Gowdy spacetimes with spikes. Classical Quantum Gravity 18, 2959--2975 (2001; Zbl 0995.83010)]. It is interesting to ask whether the expansions for a perfect fluid presented here can be extended to the case of collisionless matter. Limited expansions in some spacial cases are already known [\textit{S. B. Tchapnda} and \textit{A. D. Rendall}, General existence and asymptotic behaviour in the future for the Einstein-Vlasov system with positive cosmological constant. Classical Quantum Gravity 20, 3037--3049 (2003; Zbl 1056.83005)]. The analysis of vacuum space-times has a close analogue for Riemannian metrics. A solution of the Einstein equations with positive cosmological constant in the Lorentzian case corresponds to an Einstein metric with negative Einstein constant in the Riemannian case. Asymptotic expansions for this case have been studied in string theory [\textit{S. de Haro, K. Skenderis} and \textit{S.N. Solodukhin}, Holographic reconstruction of spacetime and renormalization in the AdS/CFT correspondence. Commun. Math. Phys. 217, 595-622 (2001; Zbl 0984.83043)]. It is shown that any vacuum solution satisfying minimal asymptotic conditions admits a full asymptotic expansion given by the formal series. In space-time dimension 4, and for spatially homogeneous space-time manifolds of finite dimension, these minimal conditions can be derived for appropriate initial data. Using Fuchsian methods [\textit{A.D. Rendall}, Fuchsian methods and spacetime singularities. Classical Quantum Gravity 21, S295--S304 (1994; Zbl 1040.83031)], the existence of vacuum space-time manifolds with the given formal asymptotics depending on the maximal number of free functions is shown without symmetry assumptions.