When Do Spacetimes Have Constant Mean Curvature Slices?

Abstract

Many results in mathematical relativity, including results for both the initial data problem and for the evolution problem, rely on the existence of a constant mean curvature (CMC) Cauchy surface in the underlying spacetime. However, it is known that some spacetimes have no CMC Cauchy surfaces (slices). This is an obstacle for many results and constructions with these types of spacetimes, and is particularly worrisome since it is not known whether spacetimes that do have CMC slices are in any sense generic. In this expository paper, we will discuss the known results about the existence (and non-existence) of CMC slices, examine the evidence for cases which are unknown, and make several conjectures concerning the existence of CMC slices and their generality.