Big-bang limit of $2+1$ gravity and Thurston boundary of Teichm\"uller space

Abstract

We study the asymptotic behavior of the solution curves of the dynamics of spacetimes of the topological type $\Sigma_{p}\times \mathbb{R}$, $p>1$, where $\Sigma_{p}$ is a closed Riemann surface of genus $p$, in the regime of $2+1$ dimensional classical general relativity. The configuration space of the gauge fixed dynamics is identified with the Teichm\"uller space ($\mathcal{T}\Sigma_{p}\approx \mathbb{R}^{6p-6}$) of $\Sigma_{p}$. Utilizing the properties of the Dirichlet energy of certain harmonic maps, estimates derived from the associated elliptic equations in conjunction with a few standard results of the theory of the compact Riemann surfaces, we prove that every non-trivial solution curve runs off the edge of the Teichm\"uller space at the limit of the big bang singularity and approaches the space of projective measured laminations/foliations ($\mathcal{PML}$ $\mathcal{PMF}$), the Thurston boundary of the Teichm\"uller space.