Test théorique d'un axiome de la relativité générale
We investigate the mapping class groups of diffeomorphisms fixing a frame at a point for general classes of 3-manifolds. These groups form the equivalent to the groups of large gauge transformations in Yang-Mills theories. They are also isomorphic to the fundamental groups of the spaces of 3-metrics modulo diffeomorphisms, which are the analogues in General Relativity to gauge-orbit spaces in gauge theories.
We prove the spacetime positive mass theorem in dimensions less than eight. This theorem asserts that for any asymptotically flat initial data set that satisfies the dominant energy condition, the inequality holds, where is the ADM energy-momentum vector. Previously, this theorem was only known for spin manifolds [38]. Our approach is a modification of the minimal hypersurface technique that was used by the last named author and S.-T. Yau to establish the time-symmetric case of this theorem...