The Positivity of Energy for Asymptotically Anti-de Sitter Spacetimes

TL;DR

This paper establishes a positive mass theorem for asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes by analyzing null geodesic time delays and their relation to matter-energy content, extending previous flat spacetime results.

Contribution

It introduces a new positive mass theorem for asymptotically AdS spacetimes, including cases with slow matter flux decay and semi-classical negative energy regions.

Findings

Negative mass implies negative time delay for null geodesics.

Positive mass ensures non-negative matter-energy in well-behaved spacetimes.

The theorem applies even with slowly decaying matter flux and local negative energy.

Abstract

We use the formulation of asymptotically anti-de Sitter boundary conditions given by Ashtekar and Magnon to obtain a coordinate expression for the general asymptotically AdeS metric in a neighbourhood of infinity. From this, we are able to compute the time delay of null curves propagating near infinity. If the gravitational mass is negative, so will be the time delay (relative to null geodesics at infinity) for certain null geodesics in the spacetime. Following closely an argument given by Penrose, Sorkin, and Woolgar, who treated the asymptotically flat case, we are then able to argue that a negative time delay is inconsistent with non-negative matter-energies in spacetimes having good causal properties. We thereby obtain a new positive mass theorem for these spacetimes. The theorem may be applied even when the matter flux near the boundary-at-infinity falls off so slowly that the mass changes, provided the theorem is applied in a time-averaged sense. The theorem also applies in certain spacetimes having local matter-energy that is sometimes negative, as can be the case in semi-classical gravity.