Peter Hintz, MIT

Title: Stability problems in general relativity

Abstract: There exist several remarkable explicit solutions of Einstein's field equations of General Relativity. A fundamental problem (with implications even for experimental science) is to determine their properties upon perturbation of their initial conditions. I will describe two such solutions: Minkowski spacetime, which is a model for regions of the universe without matter or energy content; and the Kerr--de Sitter family of spacetimes describing (rotating) black holes. In recent work, in parts joint with A. Vasy, we prove global existence and obtain a precise asymptotic description of perturbations of these spacetimes. I will explain these results and indicate the role played by modern microlocal and spectral theoretic techniques in our proofs.