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Department of Mathematics,
University of California San Diego

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Math 258 - Differential Geometry

Jim Isenberg

UCSD Visitor from University of Oregon

The Nature of Singularities in Cosmological Solutions of Einstein's Equations

Abstract:

The Hawking- Penrose singularity theorems tell us that cosmological solutions of Einstein's equations generically contain a singularity. But these theorems tell us little about what happens near such a singularity. Do the gravitational fields necessarily grow without bound? Can causality break down? What about the Cosmic Censor? Work done during the past ten years--both analytical and numerical--has gotten us a lot closer to answers to these questions. We survey this work, discussing both the mathematical ideas and the physical implications. We also discuss the likely direction of future studies.

Host: Ben Chow

January 22, 2003

1:00 PM

AP&M 7218

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