On maximal surfaces in asymptotically flat space-times (Q916112)

A spacelike hypersurface or slice in an n-dimensional Lorentzian manifold (M,g) is called maximal if its mean curvature, i.e. the trace of the extrinsic curvature, vanishes. It is called, by the authors, almost maximal if the mean curvature vanishes outside a compact set. Topological conditions on M and sufficiently fast convergence, in a suitable function space, of the metric \(g=g(x)\) to a flat metric as x tends to infinity are assumed in order to show that (M,g) can be foliated by maximal slices. Main results of the present paper read: Every Einstein vacuum evolution of asymptotically flat initial data admits an almost maximal foliation. There are also results in the spirit of the singularity theorems of Penrose and others. The proofs require considerable analytical efforts and technical preparations.