On Lorentzian causality with continuous metrics

Abstract

We present a systematic study of causality theory on Lorentzian manifolds with continuous metrics. Examples are given which show that some standard facts in smooth Lorentzian geometry, such as light-cones being hypersurfaces, are wrong when metrics which are merely continuous are considered. We show that the existence of time functions remains true on domains of dependence with continuous metrics, and that C 0, 1 differentiability of the metric suffices for many key results of the smooth causality theory. © 2012 IOP Publishing Ltd.