Related papers: Null Distance and Temporal Functions

Given a time function $\tau$ on a spacetime $M$, we define a `null distance function', $\hat{d}_\tau$, built from and closely related to the causal structure of $M$. In basic models with timelike $\nabla \tau$, we show that 1)…

A Lorentzian manifold endowed with a time function, $\tau$, can be converted into a metric space using the null distance, $\hat{d}_\tau$, defined by Sormani and Vega. We show that if the time function is a proper regular cosmological time…

Under natural conditions, the null distance introduced by Sormani and Vega [10] is a metric space distance function on spacetime, which, in a certain precise sense, can encode the causality of spacetime. The null distance function requires…

The null distance for Lorentzian manifolds was recently introduced by Sormani and Vega. Under mild assumptions on the time function of the spacetime, the null distance gives rise to an intrinsic, conformally invariant metric that induces…

In this paper, we prove that Temple's cylindrical future null coordinate charts can be constructed uniformly and we estimate the gradients of their optical functions. We then apply these charts to study a spacetime $(N,g)$ that has been…

The null distance of Sormani and Vega encodes the manifold topology as well as the causality structure of a (smooth) spacetime. We extend this concept to Lorentzian length spaces, the analog of (metric) length spaces, which generalize…

How should one define metric space notions of convergence for sequences of spacetimes? Since a Lorentzian manifold does not define a metric space directly, the uniform convergence, Gromov-Hausdorff (GH) convergence, and Sormani-Wenger…

What is the analogous notion of Gromov-Hausdorff convergence for sequences of spacetimes? Since a Lorentzian manifold is not inherently a metric space, one cannot simply use the traditional definition. One approach offered by Sormani and…

What is the distance between two points in spacetime? This is a basic geometric question, which so far has no single, definitive answer. Unlike their Riemannian cousins, Lorentzian manifolds are not known to carry a canonical distance…

We introduce the notion of causally-null-compactifiable space-times which can be canonically converted into a compact timed-metric-spaces using the cosmological time of Andersson-Howard-Galloway and the null distance of Sormani-Vega. We…

No Hopf-Rinow Theorem is possible in Lorentzian Geometry. Nonetheless, we prove that a spacetime is globally hyperbolic if and only if it is metrically complete with respect to the null distance of a time function. Our approach is based on…

The time separation function (or Lorentzian distance function) is a fundamental object used in Lorentzian geometry. For smooth spacetimes it is known to be lower semicontinuous, and in fact, continuous for globally hyperbolic spacetimes.…

Uniqueness (up to isometries) and existence of limits are studied in the context of Cheeger-Gromov convergence of spacetimes. To address the non-compactness of the vector isometry group in the semi-Riemannian setting, standard pointed…

We prove a limit curve theorem for incomplete metric spaces. Our main application is to Sormani and Vegas' null distance, where our results give strong control on the Lorentzian lengths of limit curves. We also show that regular…

Let $(M,g)$ be a time oriented Lorentzian manifold and $d$ the Lorentzian distance on $M$. The function $\tau(q):=\sup_{p< q} d(p,q)$ is the cosmological time function of $M$, where as usual $p< q$ means that $p$ is in the causal past of…

This article uses the conformal Einstein equations and the conformal representation of spatial infinity introduced by Friedrich to analyse the behaviour of the gravitational field near null and spatial infinity for the development of…

We study the Riemannian distance function from a fixed point (a point-wise target) of Euclidean space in the presence of a compact obstacle bounded by a smooth hypersurface. First, we show that such a function is locally semiconcave with a…

We introduce the notion of timed-Gromov--Hausdorff distance for timed-metric spaces. We prove that this distance is bi-Lipschitz equivalent to the intrinsic timed-Hausdorff distance of Sakovich--Sormani, and therefore induces the same…

In metric geometry, the question of whether a distance metric is given by the length of curves can be decided via the existence of midpoints with respect to the metric $d$. We adapt a similar characterization to the setting of Lorentzian…

In this paper, we discuss how a Gromov-Hausdorff-like distance function over the space of all isometric classes of compact $C^k$-Riemannian manifolds should be defined in the aspect of the Riemannan submanifold theory, where $k\geq 1$. The…