Caustics in the spherically symmetric Einstein-dust system

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autore principale: Bick, David
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866911308640681984
author Bick, David
author_facet Bick, David
contents Caustics-envelopes formed by the trajectories of fluid particles-arise in proposed dynamical extensions for shell-crossing singularities occurring in the Einstein-dust system. In this study, a local existence result is established, describing the dynamics in a neighbourhood of such caustics. Specifically, we obtain spherically symmetric spacetimes $(M,g_{μν})$ containing a caustic $\mathcal{C}$, which, in the quotient $M/SO(3)$, is a timelike curve forming a singular boundary between a 2-dust region and a vacuum region. The spacetimes are constructed from solutions to a PDE problem posed with a spacelike direction of evolution. Curvature invariants and energy densities diverge as the caustic is approached. Consequently the metric has limited regularity $g\in C^{1,1/2}$ and is shown to satisfy Einstein's equation weakly. On the complement of the caustic, the metric is smooth and satisfies Einstein's equation classically. A (degenerate) coordinate system is identified in which the dynamical variables are smooth with extension to the caustic. Finally, a novel family of static, spherically symmetric spacetimes is identified, complementing the local construction above. Each spacetime contains an eternal annular 2-dust region bounded by a pair of caustics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_07812
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Caustics in the spherically symmetric Einstein-dust system
Bick, David
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Mathematical Physics
Analysis of PDEs
Differential Geometry
Caustics-envelopes formed by the trajectories of fluid particles-arise in proposed dynamical extensions for shell-crossing singularities occurring in the Einstein-dust system. In this study, a local existence result is established, describing the dynamics in a neighbourhood of such caustics. Specifically, we obtain spherically symmetric spacetimes $(M,g_{μν})$ containing a caustic $\mathcal{C}$, which, in the quotient $M/SO(3)$, is a timelike curve forming a singular boundary between a 2-dust region and a vacuum region. The spacetimes are constructed from solutions to a PDE problem posed with a spacelike direction of evolution. Curvature invariants and energy densities diverge as the caustic is approached. Consequently the metric has limited regularity $g\in C^{1,1/2}$ and is shown to satisfy Einstein's equation weakly. On the complement of the caustic, the metric is smooth and satisfies Einstein's equation classically. A (degenerate) coordinate system is identified in which the dynamical variables are smooth with extension to the caustic. Finally, a novel family of static, spherically symmetric spacetimes is identified, complementing the local construction above. Each spacetime contains an eternal annular 2-dust region bounded by a pair of caustics.
title Caustics in the spherically symmetric Einstein-dust system
topic General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Mathematical Physics
Analysis of PDEs
Differential Geometry
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.07812