Dimensional Reduction and Spacetime Pathologies
Dimensional Reduction and Spacetime Pathologies by Sergei Slobodov M.Sc., The St. Petersburg Technical University, 1985 M.Sc., The University of British Columbia, 2003 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Physics) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2010 c Sergei Slobodov 2010 Abstract Dimensional reduction is a well known technique in general relativity. It has been used to resolve certain singularities, to generate new solutions, and to reduce the computational complexity of numerical evolution. These ad- vantages, however, often prove costly, as the reduced spacetime may have various pathologies, such as singularities, poor asymptotics, negative en- ergy, and even superluminal matter flows. The first two parts of this thesis investigate when and how these pathologies arise. After considering several simple examples, we first prove, using pertur- bative techniques, that under certain reasonable assumptions any asymptot- ically flat reduction of an asymptotically flat spacetime results in negative energy seen by timelike observers. The next part describes the topological rigidity theorem and its consequences for certain reductions to three dimen- sions, confirming and generalizing the results of the perturbative approach. The last part of the thesis is an investigation of the claim that closed timelike curves generically appearing in general relativity are a mathematical arti- fact of periodic coordinate identifications, using, in part, the dimensional reduction techniques. We show that removing these periodic identifications results in naked quasi-regular singularities and is not even guaranteed to get rid of the closed timelike curves. ii Statement of Collaboration The research covered by this thesis is a collection of projects done either alone or in collaboration with or under supervision of Kristin Schleich, Don Witt and Johan Brannlund.
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