No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This report studies the generation of new solutions to Einstein's field equations in general relativity by the method of sigma models. If, when projected from four to three dimensions, the relativistic action decouples into a gravity term and a non-linear sigma model term, target space isometries of the sigma model can be found that correspond to generating new solutions. We give a self-contained description of the method and relate it to the early articles through which the method was introduced. We discuss the virtues of the method and how it is used today. We find that it is a powerful technique of finding new solutions and can also give insight to the general features of the theory. We also identify some possible further developments of the method.

In a large class of space-times, the specification of the curvature tensor components Rabcd in some coordinate domain of the space-time uniquely determines the metric up to a constant conformal factor. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the spaces where the metric is not so determined, and to look at the determination of the metric when the components of the derivatives of the Riemann tensor (one index up) are also specified, with special reference to the role of the infinitesimal holonomy group (ihg). In chapter one we set up the mathematical background, describing the Weyl and Ricci tensor classifications, and defining holonomy. In chapter two we look at spaces with Riemann tensors of low rank. This leads us on to decomposable spaces and the connection between decomposable spaces and relativity in three dimensions. We examine the connection between decomposability and the ihg, and relate this to the Weyl and Ricci tensor classifications. In chapter three we discuss the problem of determination of the metric by the Riemann tensor alone, and give a brief review of the history of the problem. In chapter four we go on to look at the determination of the metric by the curvature and its derivatives. It is shown that, with the exception of the generalised pp-waves, we only need look as far as the first derivatives of the Riemann tensor to obtain the best determination of the metric, unless the Riemann tensor is rank 1, when the second derivatives may also be required. The form of the metric ambiguity, the ihg and Petrov types are determined in each case. These results are then reviewed in the final chapter.

Durante os últimos 90 anos temos visto o grande esplendor que a teoria da relatividade geral de Einstein alcançou em suas diversas previsões. Esta dissertação é um estudo a respeito desta teoria e suas extrapolações. Falaremos de início acerca da primeira solução das equações de Einstein para buracos negros obtida por Karl Schwarzschild em 1916: o buraco negro esfericamente simétrico e sem carga. Trataremos das possíveis órbitas neste tipo de solução bem como de perturbações gravitacionais e escalares. Ainda utilizando a solução de Schwarzschild, adentraremos os tópicos desenvolvidos recentemente em um tratamento semi-clássico da relatividade: a termodinâmica dos buracos negros. Posteriormente estudaremos as novas teorias com base na relatividade geral, que resolvem o problema da hierarquia buscando por dimensões extras em nosso Universo. Em tal contexto analisamos por exemplo como se comportam os buracos negros nestes Universos com mais do que 4 dimensões. Porém, estudamos perturbações gravitacionais em uma corda negra chegando a averiguar a presença de uma instabilidade para modos com comprimento de onda maiores do que o horizonte da corda (em uma aproximação linear), e demonstramos que em uma das possíveis soluções do problema da Hierarquia (Universos de Randall Sundrum) não existem atalhos gravitacionais mesmo para branas não planas (extrapolação dos Universos de Randall-Sundrum). / Over the last 90 years Einstein`s Theory of General Relativity has had a tremendous success in all its predictions. This dissertation is concerned with the study of this theory and its extrapolations. We begin with the first solution of the Einstein equations for black holes obtained by Karl Schwarzschild at 1916: the spherically symmetric black hole without charge, obtaining the orbits and the scalar and gravitational perturbations around the metric. We also consider the recent developments in black hole thermodynamics via a semiclassical approach to the theory. Subsequently, we study the new theories based on general relativity extrapolations, which solve the hierarchy problem proposing extra dimensions in our Universe. In this context we analyze for example the behavior of black holes in Universes with more than 4 dimensions. Finally, we study the gravitational perturbations in a black string showing the presence of unstable modes with wave length bigger than the black string horizon. We also show that in one of the possible Universes which solve the hierarchy problem there are no gravitational shortcuts even for non-at branes (an extrapolation of Randall-Sundrum Universes).

Although the study of the initial value problem in General Relativity started in the decade of 1950 with the work of Foures-Bruhat, addressing the problem of global non-linear stability of solutions to the Einstein field equations is in general a hard problem. The first non-linear global stability result in General Relativity was obtained for the de-Sitter spacetime by means of the so-called conformal Einstein field equations introduced by H. Friedrich in the decade of 1980. The latter constitutes the main conceptual and technical tool for the results discussed in this thesis. In Chapter 1 the physical and geometrical motivation for these equations is discussed. In Chapter 2 the conformal Einstein equations are presented and first order hyperbolic reduction strategies are discussed. Chapter 3 contains the first result of this work; a second order hyperbolic reduction of the spinorial formulation of the conformal Einstein field equations. Chapter 4 makes use of the latter equations to give a discussion of the non-linear stability of the Milne universe. Chapter 5 is devoted to the analysis of perturbations of the Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime via suitably posed asymptotic initial value problems. Chapter 6 gives a partial generalisation of the results of Chapter 5. Finally a result relating the Newman-Penrose constants at future and past null infinity for spin-1 and spin-2 fields propagating on Minkowski spacetime close to spatial infinity is discussed in Chapter 7 exploiting the framework of the cylinder at spatial in nity. Collectively, these results show how the conformal Einstein field equations and more generally conformal methods can be employed for analysing perturbations of spacetimes of interest and extract information about their conformal structure.

No description available.