Stable Big Bang formation for Einstein’s equations: The complete sub-critical regime
Authors: Fournodavlos Grigorios , Rodnianski Igor , Speck Jared 
Published: April 2023

For

(
t
,
x
)
∈
(
0
,
∞
)
×

T

D

(t,x) \in (0,\infty )\times \mathbb {T}^{\mathfrak {D}}

, the generalized Kasner solutions (which we refer to as Kasner solutions for short) are a family of explicit solutions to various Einstein-matter systems that, exceptional cases aside, start out smooth but then develop a Big Bang singularity as

t
↓
0

t \downarrow 0

, i.e., a singularity along an entire spacelike hypersurface, where various curvature scalars blow up monotonically. The family is parameterized by the Kasner exponents

q
~

1

,
⋯
,

q
~

D

∈

R

\widetilde {q}_1,\cdots ,\widetilde {q}_{\mathfrak {D}} \in \mathbb {R}

, which satisfy two algebraic constraints. There are heuristics in the mathematical physics literature, going back more than 50 years, suggesting that the Big Bang formation should be dynamically stable, that is, stable under perturbations of the Kasner initial data, given say at

{
t
=
1
}

\lbrace t = 1 \rbrace

, as long as the exponents are “sub-critical” in the following sense:

max

I
,
J
,
B
=
1
,
⋯
,

D

I
>
J

{

q
~

I

+

q
~

J

−

q
~

B

}
>
1

\underset {\substack {I,J,B=1,\cdots , \mathfrak {D}\\ I > J}}{\max } \{\widetilde {q}_I+\widetilde {q}_J-\widetilde {q}_B\}>1

. Previous works have rigorously shown the dynamic stability of the Kasner Big Bang singularity under stronger assumptions: (1) the Einstein-scalar field system with

D

=
3

\mathfrak {D}= 3

and

q
~

1

≈

q
~

2

≈

q
~

3

≈
1

/

3

\widetilde {q}_1 \approx \widetilde {q}_2 \approx \widetilde {q}_3 \approx 1/3

, which corresponds to the stability of the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker solution’s Big Bang or (2) the Einstein-vacuum equations for

D

≥
38

\mathfrak {D}\geq 38

with

max

I
=
1
,
⋯
,

D

|

q
~

I

|

>
1

/

6

\underset {I=1,\cdots ,\mathfrak {D}}{\max } |\widetilde {q}_I| > 1/6

. In this paper, we prove that the Kasner singularity is dynamically stable for all sub-critical Kasner exponents, thereby justifying the heuristics in the literature in the full regime where stable monotonic-type curvature-blowup is expected. We treat in detail the

1
+

D

1+\mathfrak {D}

-dimensional Einstein-scalar field system for all

D

≥
3

\mathfrak {D}\geq 3

and the

1
+

D

1+\mathfrak {D}

-dimensional Einstein-vacuum equations for

D

≥
10

\mathfrak {D}\geq 10

; both of these systems feature non-empty sets of sub-critical Kasner solutions. Moreover, for the Einstein-vacuum equations in

1
+
3

1+3

dimensions, where instabilities are in general expected, we prove that all singular Kasner solutions have dynamically stable Big Bangs under polarized

U
(
1
)

U(1)

-symmetric perturbations of their initial data. Our results hold for open sets of initial data in Sobolev spaces without symmetry, apart from our work on polarized

U
(
1
)

U(1)

-symmetric solutions.

Our proof relies on a new formulation of Einstein’s equations: we use a constant-mean-curvature foliation, and the unknowns are the scalar field, the lapse, the components of the spatial connection and second fundamental form relative to a Fermi–Walker transported spatial orthonormal frame, and the components of the orthonormal frame vectors with respect to a transported spatial coordinate system. In this formulation, the PDE evolution system for the structure coefficients of the orthonormal frame approximately diagonalizes in a way that sharply reveals the significance of the Kasner exponent sub-criticality condition for the dynamic stability of the flow: the condition leads to the time-integrability of many terms in the equations, at least at the low derivative levels. At the high derivative levels, the solutions that we study can be much more singular with respect to

t
t

, and to handle this difficulty, we use

t
t

-weighted high order energies, and we control non-linear error terms by exploiting monotonicity induced by the

t
t

-weights and interpolating between the singularity-strength of the solution’s low order and high order derivatives. Finally, we note that our formulation of Einstein’s equations highlights the quantities that might generate instabilities outside of the sub-critical regime.