Calculus of Variations and Geometric Measure Theory

F. Cavalletti - A. Mondino

A singularity theorem in terms of asymptotic expansion

created by mondino on 12 Jun 2026

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Inserted: 12 jun 2026
Last Updated: 12 jun 2026

Year: 2026

ArXiv: 2606.11825 PDF

Abstract:

We prove a singularity theorem in which the classical focusing hypothesis of Hawking--Penrose theory is replaced by a condition on asymptotic volume growth. Under the strong energy condition, we introduce asymptotic volume-expansion invariants associated with a compact Cauchy hypersurface and show that a uniform positive lower bound on these invariants implies past timelike geodesic incompleteness. More precisely, we obtain an explicit upper bound on the time-separation from the hypersurface to its chronological past. The theorem extends to globally hyperbolic Lorentzian length spaces satisfying the synthetic strong energy condition TCD(0,N), yielding an inextendibility result valid without any smoothness or differentiability assumption. We also prove an area comparison theorem for equidistant hypersurfaces and a volume singularity theorem based on related asymptotic expansion invariants.


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