Null hypersurfaces in Einstein spacetimes as Carrollian manifolds (2409.19682v1)

Abstract: We explicitly determine all shear-free null hypersurfaces embedded in an Einstein spacetime as oriented 3-dimensional manifolds where each is equipped with a coframe basis, a structure group and a connection. Such manifolds are known as null hypersurface structures (NHSs). The coframe and connection one-forms for an NHS arise as solutions to an exterior differential system arising from the Cartan structure equations in the spacetime projected onto the null hypersurface. We then show that each NHS corresponds to a Carrollian structure equipped with a unique pair of Ehresmann connection and affine connection.