We discuss our recent work [4] in which gravitational radiation was studied by evaluating the Wang-Yau quasi-local mass of surfaces of fixed size at the infinity of both axial and polar perturbations of the Schwarzschild spacetime, \`{a} la Chandrasekhar [1].

In this paper we study constant mean curvature surfaces  in a product space, M2 × R, where M2 is a complete Riemannian manifold. We assume the angle function ν = hN, @ @t i does not change sign on . We classify these surfaces according to the infimum c() of the Gaussian curvature of the projection of . When H 6= 0 and c() ≥ 0, then  is a cylinder over a complete curve with curvature 2H. If H = 0 and c() ≥ 0, then  must be a vertical plane or  is a slice M2 ×{t}, or M2 ≡ R2 with the flat metric and  is a tilted plane (after possibly passing to a covering space). When c() < 0 and H > p −c()/2, then  is a vertical cylinder over a complete curve of M2 of constant geodesic curvature 2H. This result is optimal. We also prove a non-existence result concerning complete multigraphs in M2 × R, when c(M2) < 0.

We study the question of local and global uniqueness of completions, based on null geodesics, of Lorentzian manifolds. We show local uniqueness of such boundary extensions. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for existence of unique maximal completions. The condition is verified in several situations of interest. This leads to existence and uniqueness of maximal spacelike conformal boundaries, of maximal strongly causal boundaries, as well as uniqueness of conformal boundary extensions for asymptotically simple space-times. Examples of applications include the definition of mass, or the classification of inequivalent extensions across a Cauchy horizon of the Taub space-time.

We study the limit of quasilocal mass defined in [4] and [5] for a family of spacelike 2-surfaces in spacetime. In particular, we show the limit coincides with the ADM mass at spatial infinity. The limit for coordinate spheres of a boosted slice of the Schwarzchild solution is computed explicitly and shown to give the expected energymomentum four-vector

We study the limit of quasilocal energy defined in [7] and [8] for a family of spacelike 2-surfaces approaching null infinity of an asymptotically flat spacetime. It is shown that Lorentzian symmetry is recovered and an energy-momentum 4-vector is obtained. In particular, the result is consistent with the Bondi–Sachs energy-momentum at a retarded time. The quasilocal mass in [7] and [8] is defined by minimizing quasilocal energy among admissible isometric embeddings and observers. The solvability of the Euler-Lagrange equation for this variational problem is also discussed in both the asymptotically flat and asymptotically null cases. Assuming analyticity, the equation can be solved and the solution is locally minimizing in all orders. In particular, this produces an optimal reference hypersurface in the Minkowski space for the spatial or null exterior region of an asymptotically flat spacetime.