A geometric theory of zero area singularities in general relativity
Journal Article
The Schwarzschild spacetime metric of negative mass is well-known to contain a naked singularity. In a spacelike slice, this singularity of the metric is characterized by the property that nearby surfaces have arbitrarily small area. We develop a theory of such \zero area singularities" in Riemannian manifolds, generalizing far beyond the Schwarzschild case (for example, allowing the singularities to have nontrivial topology). We also dene the mass of such singularities. The main result of this paper is a lower bound on the ADM mass of an asymptotically at manifold of nonnegative scalar curvature in terms of the masses of its singularities, assuming a certain conjecture in conformal geometry. The proof relies on the Riemannian Penrose inequality [9]. Equality is attained in the inequality by the Schwarzschild metric of negative mass. An immediate corollary is a version of the positive mass theorem that allows for certain types of incomplete metrics. © 2013 International Press.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Bray, HL; Jauregui, JL
Published Date
- 2013
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 17 / 3
Start / End Page
- 525 - 560
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 1093-6106
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.4310/AJM.2013.v17.n3.a6