MathSciDoc: An Archive for Mathematician ∫

A time-flat condition on spacelike 2-surfaces in spacetime is considered here. This condition is analogous to constant torsion condition for curves in three dimensional space and has been studied in [2, 4, 5, 12, 13]. In particular, any 2-surface in a static slice of a static spacetime is time-flat. In this article, we address the question in the title and prove several local and global rigidity theorems for such surfaces in the Minkowski spacetime.

We propose a geometric inequality for two-dimensional spacelike surfaces in the Schwarzschild spacetime. This inequality implies the Penrose inequality for collapsing dust shells in general relativity, as proposed by Penrose and Gibbons. We prove that the inequality holds in several important cases.

In relativity, the energy of a moving particle depends on the observer, and the rest mass is the minimal energy seen among all observers. The Wang–Yau quasi-local mass for a surface in spacetime introduced in Wang and Yau (Phys Rev Lett 102(2):021101, 2009 ; Commun Math Phys 288(3):919–942, 2009) is defined by minimizing quasi-local energy associated with admissible isometric embeddings of the surface into the Minkowski space. A critical point of the quasi-local energy is an isometric embedding satisfying the Euler–Lagrange equation. In this article, we prove results regarding both local and global minimizing properties of critical points of the Wang–Yau quasi-local energy. In particular, under a condition on the mean curvature vector we show a critical point minimizes the quasi-local energy locally. The same condition also implies that the critical point is globally minimizing among all axially symmetric embedding provided the image of the associated isometric embedding lies in a totally geodesic Euclidean 3-space.

These notions in the title are of fundamental importance in any branch of physics. However, there have been great difficulties in finding physically acceptable definitions of them in general relativity since Einstein's time. I shall explain these difficulties and progresses that have been made. In particular, I shall introduce new definitions of center of mass and angular momentum at both the quasi-local and total levels, which are derived from first principles in general relativity and by the method of geometric analysis. With these new definitions, the classical formula p=mv is shown to be consistent with Einstein's field equation for the first time. This paper is based on joint work [14][15] with Po-Ning Chen and Shing-Tung Yau.

We study the uniqueness of minimal submanifolds and the stability of the mean curvature flow in several well-known model spaces of manifolds of special holonomy. These include the Stenzel metric on the cotangent bundle of spheres, the Calabi metric on the cotangent bundle of complex projective spaces, and the Bryant--Salamon metrics on vector bundles over certain Einstein manifolds. In particular, we show that the zero sections, as calibrated submanifolds with respect to their respective ambient metrics, are unique among compact minimal submanifolds and are dynamically stable under the mean curvature flow. The proof relies on intricate interconnections of the Ricci flatness of the ambient space and the extrinsic geometry of the calibrated submanifolds.

In [SW2], we defined a generalized mean curvature vector field on any almost Lagrangian submanifold with respect to a torsion connection on an almost K\"ahler manifold. The short time existence of the corresponding parabolic flow was established. In addition, it was shown that the flow preserves the Lagrangian condition as long as the connection satisfies an Einstein condition. In this article, we show that the canonical connection on the cotangent bundle of any Riemannian manifold is an Einstein connection (in fact, Ricci flat). The generalized mean curvature vector on any Lagrangian submanifold is related to the Lagrangian angle defined by the phase of a parallel (n, 0) form, just like the Calabi-Yau case. We also show that the corresponding Lagrangian mean curvature flow in cotangent bundles preserves the exactness and the zero Maslov class conditions. At the end, we prove a long time existence and convergence result to demonstrate the stability of the zero section of the cotangent bundle of spheres.

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].

This article considers the quasi-local conserved quantities with respect to a reference spacetime with a cosmological constant. We follow the approach developed by the authors in [25,26,7] and define the quasi-local energy as differences of surface Hamiltonians. The ground state for the gravitational energy is taken to be a reference configuration in the de Sitter (dS) or Anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetime. This defines the quasi-local energy with respect to the reference spacetime and generalizes our previous definition with respect to the Minkowski spacetime. Through an optimal isometric embedding into the reference spacetime, the Killing fields of the reference spacetime are transplanted back to the surface in the physical spacetime to complete the definitions of quasi-local conserved quantities. We also compute how the corresponding total conserved quantities evolve under the Einstein equation with a cosmological constant.

This article considers the quasi-local energy in reference to a general static spacetime. We follow the approach developed by the authors in [19, 20, 7, 9] and define the quasi-local energy as a difference of surface Hamiltonians, which are derived from the Einstein-Hilbert action. The new quasi-local energy provides an effective gauge independent measurement of how far a spacetime deviates away from the reference static spacetime on a finitely extended region.

This note is based on a series of four lectures the author gave at University of Montpellier, September 28-30, 2015. He started with the notion of mass in general relativity, gave a brief review of some known constructions of quasi-local mass, and then discussed the new quasi-local energy and quasi-local mass which Shing-Tung Yau and the author introduced in 2009. At the end, the proof of the positivity of quasi-local energy was sketched and a stability theorem of critical points of quasi-local energy by Po-Ning Chen, Shing-Tung Yau, and the author was discussed