Dynamical Black Hole Formation

In 2008, Christodoulou achieved a major breakthrough in the context of mathematical general relativity in being able to form trapped surfaces dynamically from initial data for the Einstein vacuum system. The results and methods which he lays out in his 600+ page manuscript has led to a flurry of activity in the last decade. I will give a rough overview of the basic ideas, describe how far theorems have come, and describe some recent progress – joint with Nikos Athanasiou – in this direction.

–Organized by Professor Shing-Tung Yau