Gravitational systems in asymptotically anti-de Sitter space-times

Abstract

Being a key ingredient of the AdS/CFT correspondence, AdS space-time is suspected to be non-linearly unstable since 2011. Even with arbitrarily small initial data, a singularity almost invariably emerges. However, some configurations allow for perfectly regular and quasi-periodic solutions. These are the so-called islands of stability. Among them, geons play the role of purely gravitational excitations of AdS space-time. In this manuscript, we tackle the problem of the numerical construction of several families of asymptotically AdS geons. We are able to definitely demonstrate the existence of the so-called excited geons, a point that was the subject to a lively debate in the literature. We also detail how several features of such space-times can be used as precision monitors and help us to validate numerics. Finally, we discuss in detail how geons shed new light on the AdS instability problem.