The case of equality for the spacetime positive mass theorem

Abstract

The rigidity of the spacetime positive mass theorem states that an initial data set $(M,g,k)$ satisfying the dominant energy condition with vanishing mass can be isometrically embedded into Minkowski space. This has been established by Beig-Chru\'sciel and Huang-Lee under additional decay assumptions for the energy and momentum densities $\mu$ and $J$. In this note we give a new and elementary proof in dimension 3 which removes these additional decay assumptions. Our argument uses spacetime harmonic functions and Liouville's theorem. We also provide an alternative proof based on the Killing development of $(M,g,k)$.