The ground state and the long-time evolution in the CMC Einstein flow

TL;DR

This paper investigates the long-term behavior of constant mean curvature Einstein flows on compact 3-manifolds with non-positive Yamabe invariant, establishing a connection between ground states, geometrization, and energy conditions.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of ground states as limits of CMC Einstein flows, classifies these states into three types, and links their properties to the Thurston geometrization of the manifold.

Findings

Ground states are equivalent to Thurston geometrization.

Flow persists in geometrizing the manifold under energy bounds.

New example of a ground state: the Double Cusp.

Abstract

Let (g,K)(k) be a CMC (vacuum) Einstein flow over a compact three-manifold M with non-positive Yamabe invariant (Y(M)). As noted by Fischer and Moncrief, the reduced volume V(k)=(-k/3)^{3}Vol_{g(k)}(M) is monotonically decreasing in the expanding direction and bounded below by V_{\inf}=(-1/6)Y(M))^{3/2}. Inspired by this fact we define the ground state of the manifold M as "the limit" of any sequence of CMC states {(g_{i},K_{i})} satisfying: i. k_{i}=-3, ii. V_{i} --> V_{inf}, iii. Q_{0}((g_{i},K_{i}))< L where Q_{0} is the Bel-Robinson energy and L is any arbitrary positive constant. We prove that (as a geometric state) the ground state is equivalent to the Thurston geometrization of M. Ground states classify naturally into three types. We provide examples for each class, including a new ground state (the Double Cusp) that we analyze in detail. Finally consider a long time and cosmologically normalized flow (\g,\K)(s)=((-k/3)^{2}g,(-k/3))K) where s=-ln(-k) is in [a,\infty). We prove that if E_{1}=E_{1}((\g,\K))< L (where E_{1}=Q_{0}+Q_{1}, is the sum of the zero and first order Bel-Robinson energies) the flow (\g,\K)(s) persistently geometrizes the three-manifold M and the geometrization is the ground state if V --> V_{inf}.