Cosmologies with quasiregular singularities. I. Spacetimes and test waves

Journal Article · Fri Mar 15 04:00:00 EST 1985 · Phys. Rev. D; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.31.1178· OSTI ID:5992544

Konkowski, D A; Helliwell, T M; Shepley, L C

The nature of spacetimes with quasiregular singularities is discussed. Such singularities are the end points of incomplete, inextendible geodesics at which the Riemann tensor and its derivatives remain at least bounded in all parallel-propagated orthonormal frames; observers approaching such a singularity would find that their world lines come to an end in a finite proper time, without encountering infinite tidal forces. Particular attention is paid to Taub-NUT-(Newman-Unti-Tamburino) type cosmologies, which are an interesting class of spacetimes containing quasiregular singularities. These cosmologies are characterized by incomplete geodesics which spiral infinitely around a topologically closed spatial dimension: They include the R/sup 3/ x S/sup 1/ and R/sup 1/ x T/sup 3/ flat Kasner universes, the two-parameter family of Taub-NUT universes, and an infinite-dimensional subclass of Einstein-Rosen-Gowdy spacetimes studied by Moncrief. The global structure of each of these spacetimes is described. The flat Kasner and Moncrief universes both possess a null hypersurface which is a Cauchy and a Killing horizon and which contains a quasiregular singularity; the Taub-NUT universes possess two such null hypersurfaces. Timelike geodesics exhibit two sorts of behavior in the vicinity of any one of these null hypersurfaces: They may pass right through the hypersurface or they may approach it asymptotically, spiraling around a closed spatial dimension. The behavior of scalar test fields in each of the Taub-NUT-type cosmologies is also very similar in the vicinity of a singularity-containing null hypersurface.

• Research Organization: Center for Relativity, Department of Physics, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712 and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
• OSTI ID: 5992544
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. D; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev. D; (United States) Vol. 31:6; ISSN PRVDA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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