``Regularity singularities and the scattering of gravity waves in approximate locally inertial frames

DOI10.4310/MAA.2016.V23.N3.A2zbMATH Open1355.83019arXiv1506.04074MaRDI QIDQ502269FDOQ502269

Authors: Moritz Reintjes, Blake Temple 

Publication date: 3 January 2017

Published in: Methods and Applications of Analysis (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: It is an open question whether solutions of the Einstein-Euler equations are smooth enough to admit locally inertial coordinates at points of shock wave interaction, or whether "regularity singularities" can exist at such points. The term {it regularity singularity} was proposed by the authors as a point in spacetime where the gravitational metric tensor is Lipschitz continuous ($C^{0,1}$), but no smoother, in any coordinate system of the $C^{1,1}$ atlas. An existence theory for shock wave solutions in $C^{0,1}$ admitting arbitrary interactions has been proven for the Einstein-Euler equations in spherically symmetric spacetimes, but $C^{1,1}$ is the requisite smoothness required for space-time to be locally flat. Thus the open problem of regularity singularities is the problem as to whether locally inertial coordinate systems exist at shock waves within the larger $C^{1,1}$ atlas. To clarify this open problem, we identify new "Coriolis type" effects in the geometry of $C^{0,1}$ shock wave metrics and prove they are essential in the sense that they can never be made to vanish within the atlas of {it smooth} coordinate transformations, the atlas usually assumed in classical differential geometry. Thus the problem of existence of regularity singularities is equivalent to the question as to whether or not these Coriolis type effects are essentially non-removable and `real', or merely coordinate effects that can be removed, (in analogy to classical Coriolis forces), by going to the less regular atlas of $C^{1,1}$ transformations. If essentially non-removable, it would argue strongly for a `real' new physical effect for General Relativity, providing a physical context to the open problem of regularity singularities.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1506.04074

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zbMATH Keywords

shock wavesgravity wavesEinstein-Euler equationsshock wave interactiongravitational metric tensorlinearized Einstein equationslocally inertial framesregularity singularities

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Exact solutions to problems in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C15) Approximation procedures, weak fields in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C25) Macroscopic interaction of the gravitational field with matter (hydrodynamics, etc.) (83C55) Space-time singularities, cosmic censorship, etc. (83C75) Shock waves and blast waves in fluid mechanics (76L05) Quantum hydrodynamics and relativistic hydrodynamics (76Y05) Gravitational waves (83C35)

Cited In (6)

• The global uniqueness and \(C^1\)-regularity of geodesics in expanding impulsive gravitational waves
• Shock wave interactions and the Riemann-flat condition: the geometry behind metric smoothing and the existence of locally inertial frames in general relativity
• On the optimal regularity implied by the assumptions of geometry. I: Connections on tangent bundles
• How to smooth a crinkled map of space–time: Uhlenbeck compactness for L ^∞ connections and optimal regularity for general relativistic shock waves by the Reintjes–Temple equations
• Inertio-gravity waves under the non-traditional -plane approximation: singularity in the large-scale limit
• Cyclic spacetimes through singularity scattering maps. The laws of quiescent bounces

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