Scattering towards the singularity for the wave equation and the linearized Einstein-scalar field system in Kasner spacetimes

Abstract: We consider the scalar wave equation $\square_g \phi$ and the linearized Einstein-scalar field system around generalized Kasner spacetimes with spatial topology $\mathbb{T}^D$. In suitable regimes for the Kasner exponents, it is known that solutions to such equations arising from regular Cauchy data (e.g. at $t = 1$) have certain quantitative blow-up asymptotics near the initial time (i.e. $t = 0$) singularity of Kasner. For instance, solutions to the wave equation behave as $\phi(t, x) \approx \psi_{\infty}(x) \log t + \varphi_{\infty}(x)$ near $t = 0$. This article provides a description, and proof, of a scattering theory for the above equations, linking Cauchy data at $t = 1$ and suitable asymptotic data at $t = 0$ in Kasner. For the scalar wave equation, this means a Hilbert space isomorphism between $(\phi, \partial_t \phi)$ at $t = 1$ and the functions $(\psi_{\infty}, \varphi_{\infty})$. A curious detail is that certain quantities e.g. $\psi_{\infty}$, feature a gain of 1/2 a derivative when compared to $\partial_t \phi$ at t = 1. The study of the linearized Einstein-scalar field system reveals further interesting phenomena, including differences between diagonal and off-diagonal components of certain tensors in the scattering theory, and that the losses of derivatives feature a sensitive dependence on the anisotropy of the background Kasner spacetime. In fact, though our result holds for the entire subcritical regime of background Kasner exponents, the number of derivatives lost and gained in the scattering theory can become unbounded as one nears the boundary of this regime.