A Numerical Study of the Expanding Direction of $T^2$-Symmetric Spacetimes

Abstract

The asymptotic behavior of expanding, generic, $T^2$-Symmetric, vacuum spacetimes is examined via numerical simulations. After validation of the numerical methods, the properties of these generic spacetimes are explored and compared to non-generic subfamilies where proven results exist. The non-generic subfamilies within this class, including the Kasner, the Gowdy, the pseudo-homogeneous, and the $B=0$ spacetimes, all have known asymptotic behaviors in the expanding direction which have been determined either from the explicit solutions or using analytic methods. For the $B\ne 0$ spacetimes, the generic case within the $T^2$-Symmetric vacuum solutions, the asymptotic behavior has not been determined analytically. In this work, we use numerical simulations to explore the asymptotic behavior of the $B\ne 0$ spacetimes. Our results indicate that, for these generic spacetimes, the asymptotic behavior in the expanding direction differs from that seen in the non-generic subfamilies. In addition to differences in asymptotic power laws, an apparent quasi-periodic exchange of energy from one gravitational mode to the other for the generic non-polarized solutions is observed.