Abstract:
This work constructs surfaces of prescribed mean curvature in asymptotically
flat manifolds. Such manifolds are the model for initial data to the Einstein
field equations in general relativity, decribing isolated gravitating
systems.
The surfaces in question form a regular foliation of the asymptotic region of
such a manifold and can for example be considered as the level sets of a
geometrically defined radial coordinate. IN addition we are able to recover
the ADM-momentum of the data from the geometry of the foliation.
The present work continues a previous paper from Huisken and Yau (1996) in
which a foliation of surfaces of constant mean curvature was constructed and
used to give a geometric definiton of the center of mass of such a system.
For a given set of data $(M,g,K)$, with a three dimensional manifold, its
Riemmanian meetric $g$ and the second fundamental form of $M$ in the four
dimensional solution manifold, the equation solved is $H+P=const$ od
$H-P=const$. Here $P= tr K$ is the 2-trace of $K$ along the solution surface.
This is a degenerate elliptic equation for the position of the surface. The
presciption is anisotropic, since $P$ depends on the direction of the normal.
We show the existence of such a foliation of surfaces, solving one of these
equations, for very general decay conditions on the norm of the difference of
the metric $g$ and the Schwarzschild metric $g^S$, and the norm of the tensor
$K$.
Precisely speaking, the conditions $r|g - g^S| + r^2|\nabla -
\nabla^S| + r^3|Ric - Ric^S| < \eta$ and $r^2|K| + r^3|\nabla K| <
\eta$ are sufficient.
Here $g^S$ is the spatial, conformally flat Schwarzschildmetric with mass
$m>0$, $r$ the asymptotic radial coordinate, $\nabla$ and $\nabla^S$ are the
Levi-Civita connections of $g$ and $g^S$, $Ric$ and $Ric^S$ are the respective
Ricci curvatures and $\eta = m \eta_0$ with a small constant $\eta_0$.