Aspects of the geometry and topology of expanding horizons

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to extend some basic results about marginally outer trapped surfaces to the context of surfaces having general null expansion. Motivated in part by recent work of Chai-Wan, we introduce the notion of $\mathfrak{g}$-stability for a general closed hypersurface $\Sigma$ in an ambient initial data set and prove that, under natural energy conditions, $\Sigma$ has positive Yamabe type, that is, $\Sigma$ admits a metric of positive scalar curvature, provided $\Sigma$ is $\mathfrak{g}$-stable. A similar result is obtained when $\Sigma$ is embedded in a null hypersurface of a spacetime satisfying the dominant energy condition. Area bounds under similar conditions are obtained in the case where $\Sigma$ is $2$-dimensional. Conditions implying $\mathfrak{g}$-stability are also discussed. Finally, we obtain a spacetime positive mass theorem for initial data sets with compact boundary $\Sigma$ of positive null expansion, assuming that the dominant energy condition is sufficiently strict near $\Sigma$. This extends recent results of Galloway-Lee and Lee-Lesourd-Unger.