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Junior Geometry Seminar

The geometry of spacetimes

Annegret Burtscher, Rutgers University

Location:  Hill 705
Date & time: Thursday, 15 February 2018 at 11:00AM - 11:45AM

Abstract:  In Einstein's general theory of relativity, gravity is described as a geometric property of space and time. More precisely, these spacetimes are four-dimensional Lorentzian manifolds, and via the Einstein equations their curvature is related to the energy and momentum of whatever matter is present. We are particularly interested in stellar models, which can be described by a perfect fluid. According to the (mostly resolved) “fluid ball conjecture” non-rotating stellar models are automatically also spherically symmetric and are thus modeled by the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation. With all these restrictions in place, one still has to solve a system of singular and highly nonlinear ordinary differential equations. We will discuss what is known about the geometry of these solutions, and how the asymptotic behavior relates to properties of the fluid and other solutions in general relativity.

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