Foliations by critical surfaces of the Hawking energy in asymptotically flat initial data sets

TL;DR

This paper constructs and analyzes large-scale foliations by Hawking surfaces in asymptotically flat initial data sets, demonstrating their positivity, convergence to ADM energy, and robustness as a quasi-local energy tool.

Contribution

It introduces a novel foliation framework for Hawking surfaces, proving existence, uniqueness, and positivity properties under broad conditions.

Findings

Hawking energy converges to ADM energy along the foliation

Existence and uniqueness of the Hawking surface foliation are established

Hawking surfaces exhibit positivity and rigidity properties in various asymptotic regimes

Abstract

Area-constrained critical surfaces for the Hawking quasi-local energy ("Hawking surfaces") provide a natural setting for that energy: they enjoy positivity and rigidity properties. We construct large-scale foliations at infinity by Hawking surfaces in asymptotically Schwarzschild initial data sets. Using a Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction within a Willmore-foliation framework, we prove existence and uniqueness of the foliation and study its coordinate center. Under the dominant energy condition, we show that along the leaves of the foliation, the Hawking energy is positive and converges to the ADM energy in the large-sphere limit; moreover, subject to an explicit integral constraint, it is monotone along the foliation. Under weaker assumptions we construct an on-center family of Hawking surfaces that, while not necessarily a foliation, still enjoys positivity and the large-sphere limit. Finally, we obtain a rigidity statement and verify that our hypotheses hold in a broad class of data, initial data sets with harmonic or York asymptotics, thereby demonstrating the robustness of Hawking surfaces as a quasi-local energy tool in dynamical spacetimes.