On the initial boundary value problem for the Einstein vacuum equations in the maximal gauge

Abstract: We consider the initial boundary value problem for the Einstein vacuum equations in the maximal gauge, or more generally, in a gauge where the mean curvature of a timelike foliation is fixed near the boundary. We prove the existence of solutions such that the normal to the boundary is tangent to the time slices, the lapse of the induced time coordinate on the boundary is fixed and the main geometric boundary conditions are given by the 1-parameter family of Riemannian conformal metrics on each two-dimensional section. As in the local existence theory of Christodoulou-Klainerman for the Einstein vacuum equations in the maximal gauge, we use as a reduced system the wave equations satisfied by the components of the second fundamental form of the the time foliation. The main difficulty lies in completing the above set of boundary conditions such that the reduced system is well-posed, but still allows for the recovery of the Einstein equations. We solve this problem by imposing the momentum constraint equations on the boundary, suitably modified by quantities vanishing in the maximal gauge setting. To derive energy estimates for the reduced system at time t, we show that all the terms in the flux integrals on the boundary can be either directly controlled by the boundary conditions or they lead to an integral on the two-dimensional section at time t of the boundary. Exploiting again the maximal gauge condition on the boundary, this contribution to the flux integrals can then be absorbed by a careful trace inequality in the interior energy.