Causal Sobolev spaces and gradient flows
Abstract
We develop a relaxation-based approach to Sobolev functions and Cheeger energies on metric spacetimes, in analogy with the construction used in positive signature. For an exponent p<0, we introduce a pre-p-Cheeger energy built from a local steepness constant on causal functions, and define the p-Cheeger energy as its relaxation in L0; this yields, by construction, a convex and lower semicontinuous functional together with an associated maximal relaxed subslope. We establish natural calculus rules for the resulting Sobolev class. We then define the p-heat flow as the gradient flow of the p-Cheeger energy in L2 and its generator, the p-d'Alembertian. Combining a Kuwada-type lemma with entropy growth estimates along the flow, we show that our notion of Sobolev class and relaxed subslope coincides with the Sobolev class and weak subslope introduced by Beran et al.
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BibTeX
@misc{braun2026causal,
title = {{Causal Sobolev spaces and gradient flows}},
author = {Mathias Braun and Nicola Gigli and Robert McCann and Simone Vincini},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.21775},
eprint = {2610.21775},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.21775},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Causal Sobolev spaces and gradient flows
AU - Mathias Braun
AU - Nicola Gigli
AU - Robert McCann
AU - Simone Vincini
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.21775
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.21775
AB - We develop a relaxation-based approach to Sobolev functions and Cheeger energies on metric spacetimes, in analogy with the construction used in positive signature. For an exponent p<0, we introduce a pre-p-Cheeger energy built from a local steepness constant on causal functions, and define the p-Cheeger energy as its relaxation in L^0; this yields, by construction, a convex and lower semicontinuous functional together with an associated maximal relaxed subslope. We establish natural calculus rules for the resulting Sobolev class. We then define the p-heat flow as the gradient flow of the p-Cheeger energy in L^2 and its generator, the p-d'Alembertian. Combining a Kuwada-type lemma with entropy growth estimates along the flow, we show that our notion of Sobolev class and relaxed subslope coincides with the Sobolev class and weak subslope introduced by Beran et al.
ER -