Zoe Wyatt: Stability problems in general relativity

Date: Thursday 31 August
Abstract: Einstein's theory of general relativity makes spectacular predictions, like gravitational waves, about our universe. For the mathematician, the analysis of the hyperbolic Einstein equations is one of the most powerful ways to understand conceptual questions of the theory. In this talk, I will explain some of the contributions of mathematics to general relativity, highlighting a recent joint work showing the stability of Kaluza-Klein spacetimes. These are important models in supergravity and their stability is connected to claims of Penrose and Witten.