The contact structure on the space of null geodesics of causally simple spacetimes

DOI10.1016/J.DIFGEO.2020.101715MaRDI QIDQ2022406zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Jakob Hedicke

Publication date 29 April 2021

Published in Differential Geometry and its Applications (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.03949

zbMATH Keywords

contact geometryLorentzian geometrynull geodesics

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Global differential geometry of Lorentz manifolds, manifolds with indefinite metrics (53C50) Contact manifolds (general theory) (53D10) Geodesic flows in symplectic geometry and contact geometry (53D25)

Abstract: It is shown that the space of null geodesics of a star-shaped causally simple subset of Minkowski space is contactomorphic to the canonical contact structure in the spherical cotangent bundle of $mathbb{R}^n$. In the $3$-dimensional case we prove a similar result for a large class of causally simple contractible subsets of an arbitrary globally hyperbolic spacetime applying methods from the theory of contact-convex surfaces. Moreover we prove that under certain assumptions the space of null geodesics of a causally simple spacetime embeds with smooth boundary into the space of null geodesics of a globally hyperbolic spacetime. The characteristic foliation of this boundary provides an invariant of the conformal class of the causally simple spacetime.

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Cited in

(9)

• Redshift and contact forms
• Contact structures on null hypersurfaces
• The canonical contact structure on the space of oriented null geodesics of pseudospheres and products
• The contact structure in the space of light rays
• Causal simplicity and (maximal) null pseudoconvexity
• On the space of null geodesics of a spacetime: the compact case, Engel geometry and retrievability
• Remarks on the oscillation energy of Legendrian isotopies
• On the foundations and applications of Lorentz-Finsler geometry
• On the space of cone geodesics and positive paths of contactomorphisms

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