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For a complete comoving observer at the north pole of the closed slicing of de Sitter spacetime, radial null rays have $d\chi =\pm dT$. The finite past conformal interval gives the displayed particle horizon; the finite remaining future interval gives the displayed observer event horizon. The angular distances range strictly between zero and $\pi$ at every finite proper time. Complete constant-$T$ three-spheres are Cauchy hypersurfaces, so their domains of dependence cover the global spacetime and they have no Cauchy horizons. Cosmological horizons are observer-dependent and are not failures of global hyperbolicity.

A complete Cauchy hypersurface in Minkowski spacetime, such as $t=0$, has full domain of dependence and empty Cauchy horizons. This does not forbid horizons for a non-Cauchy initial surface in the same spacetime. The smooth edgeless spacelike hyperboloid $t=\sqrt{a^2+r^2}$, $a>0$, has domain of dependence $t>r$ and a past Cauchy horizon on the future light cone of the origin. Every causal curve starting inside that cone crosses the hyperboloid in the direction needed for dependence: $t^2-r^2$ passes through $a^2$, while a null generator of the cone never meets it. The time-reversed hyperboloid gives the analogous future horizon.

For $0<|Q|<M$, a Reissner-Nordstrom spacetime has an outer event horizon and an inner Cauchy horizon. Between them $r$ is timelike; inside the inner horizon $r$ is spacelike and the $r=0$ curvature singularity is timelike. The exact analytic extension contains repeated exterior blocks beyond the Cauchy horizons. Small perturbations produce severe inner-horizon blueshift and mass inflation, so that exact continuation is not a robust prediction for collapse. At $|Q|=M$ the horizons merge into a degenerate Killing horizon; for $|Q|>M$ the spherical electrovacuum solution instead has a naked singularity.

Near a nondegenerate outgoing inner Cauchy horizon, a regular null coordinate behaves as $V_{-}\propto -e^{-{\kappa }_{-}v}$, where ${\kappa }_{-}>0$ is the magnitude of the inner-horizon surface gravity. Transforming stress components gives $T_{V_{-}{V}_{-}}\propto e^{2{\kappa }_{-}v}{T}_{vv}$. Even a small power-law tail can therefore cause an unbounded locally measured flux, motivating mass inflation.

The two-dimensional symmetry-axis restriction of the Kerr metric has simple horizons at $r_{\pm }$ for $0<|a|<M$, but is regular at $r=0$ because the ring is off-axis. Its static region below the inner horizon continues to an asymptotically flat end at negative infinity. The horizon blocks repeat in the maximal analytic extension. This ideal continuation is distinct from a claim of physical stability at the Cauchy horizon.

Mass inflation is the growth of the interior effective mass and curvature near an inner Cauchy horizon under suitably perturbed black-hole data. It can obstruct regular spacetime extensions that exist for an exact Reissner-Nordstrom spacetime. The extension regularity matters: curvature blowup alone does not rule out every continuous-metric extension.

A maximal analytic extension of an analytic spacetime is an analytic spacetime extension admitting no further proper analytic extension as a regular spacetime of the same dimension. It is different from a maximal Cauchy development, which can end at a smooth Cauchy horizon. Additional global choices or quotients can affect uniqueness. The simply connected extension of positive-mass Schwarzschild spacetime through both horizons is the Kruskal spacetime; its curvature singularities remain boundaries.

A maximal Cauchy development is the largest globally hyperbolic solution, unique up to an appropriate isometry, determined by admissible initial data, with the initial hypersurface a Cauchy hypersurface. It can sometimes be extended as a spacetime across a Cauchy horizon even though that extension is no longer globally determined by the initial hypersurface.

For the complete observer $\chi =0$ in two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime, let $d(\chi ,0)\in [0,\pi ]$ be shortest angular distance. An event can signal to the observer exactly when $d(\chi ,0)<\pi /2-T$, and can receive its signals exactly when $d(\chi ,0)<T+\pi /2$. Equality describes its future and past observer event horizons. Their intersection is the static patch of de Sitter spacetime containing the observer. These are observer-dependent cosmological horizons; constant-$T$ circles are Cauchy hypersurfaces, so there are no Cauchy horizons in the full spacetime.

A horizon separates regions according to a specified causal, dynamical or geometrical criterion. The criterion must be stated: an event horizon, an apparent horizon, a Killing horizon and a Cauchy horizon answer different questions. Some horizons describe a black hole, others an observer's acceleration or the universe's expansion. A vanishing coordinate metric component alone does not establish any of these definitions.

In an asymptotically flat spacetime, choose the relevant future null infinity ${\mathcal{I}}^{+}$, the endpoint of escaping outgoing light rays. The black-hole region and its future event horizon areHere $J^{-}$ is the causal past. Events in $\mathcal{B}$ cannot send a causal signal to the chosen infinity. This is a global definition: identifying the horizon requires the full future development, so a local measurement need not reveal whether an event lies on it. Smooth portions of an event horizon are null hypersurfaces generated by null geodesics. Generators may join at past caustics or crease sets, so the horizon need not be smooth everywhere. A past event horizon is defined by the time-reversed escape criterion; in the maximally extended Schwarzschild solution it bounds a white-hole region.

An observer-based definition replaces infinity by a future-inextendible worldline $\gamma$. Its future observer event horizon is the boundary of events that can signal to $\gamma$, conventionally $\partial I^{-}(\gamma )$. A past observer horizon similarly bounds events reachable from its past worldline. Such horizons depend on the observer and need not imply a black hole.

A Killing horizon is a null hypersurface to which a nonzero Killing vector field $K^a$ is normal. On it, $K^a$ is tangent to its null generators and satisfies $K^b{\nabla }_b{K}^a=\kappa K^a$. The surface gravity $\kappa$ measures the failure of this Killing parameter to be an affine parameter; rescaling $K$ rescales $\kappa$. A degenerate Killing horizon has $\kappa =0$. Stationary black-hole horizons often are Killing horizons, whereas a general evolving event horizon need not have any Killing symmetry. The condition $K^a{K}_a=0$ alone is insufficient: the null vector must also be normal to a null hypersurface.

The Schwarzschild spacetime illustrates several of these notions. In units $G=c=1$, let $f=1-2M/r$. Its metric is $d{s}^2=fd{t}^2-f^{-1}d{r}^2-r^{2}d{\Omega }^2$, and $r=2M$ is the future event horizon of the black-hole region in the appropriate extension. The apparent coordinate singularity disappears in ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates, $v=t+r_{\ast }$, $d{r}_{\ast }/dr=f^{-1}$:At $r=2M$ this metric is regular and the normal $dr$ is null. Future outgoing radial rays satisfy $dr/dv=f/2$; inside the horizon their areal radius decreases even on the outgoing family. The stationary Killing vector field ${\partial }_v$ generates the horizon with $\kappa =f^{\prime }(2M)/2=1/(4M)$ when normalized at infinity. The Kretschmann scalar is $48M^2/r^6$, finite at the horizon and divergent at $r=0$. Thus the event horizon is not the curvature singularity. The photon sphere at $r=3M$, which supports circular null orbits, is also not the horizon.

Quasi-local horizon notions use null expansions. For a closed spacelike two-surface, choose future outgoing and ingoing null normals $\ell ,n$, with $\ell \cdot n=1$ in signature $(+---)$. Each expansion is the logarithmic rate of its positive area element along the corresponding null normal. A future trapped surface has ${\theta }_{\ell }<0$ and ${\theta }_n<0$: both future light fronts initially shrink. A marginally outer trapped surface has ${\theta }_{\ell }=0$; for the future black-hole type also require ${\theta }_n<0$. On a chosen spacelike slice, the outer boundary of the future trapped region is an apparent horizon, ordinarily an outermost marginally outer trapped surface when regularity permits this characterization. It depends on the slice, and a slicing need not display an apparent horizon even when the global spacetime contains an event horizon.

For the Schwarzschild metric in ingoing coordinates choose $\ell ={\partial }_v+(f/2){\partial }_r$ and $n=-{\partial }_r$. The spherical null expansion in ingoing coordinates givesThe round spheres inside $2M$ are future trapped, while $r=2M$ is marginal. On standard horizon-penetrating slices its sections give the apparent horizon, coinciding with the stationary event and Killing horizon. This coincidence in a symmetric stationary example does not identify the notions in a general spacetime.

A trapping horizon is a hypersurface foliated by marginal surfaces. Its future outer type obeys ${\theta }_{\ell }=0$, ${\theta }_n<0$ and ${\mathcal{L}}_n{\theta }_{\ell }<0$. Unlike an event horizon, this can be diagnosed from local expansion data and their variation. The null energy condition explains its causal character. At a marginal surface, the Null Raychaudhuri equation, with the present curvature sign and vanishing null twist, givesin units $c=1$. A possible nonaffinity term vanishes here because it is proportional to the zero expansion. Write a horizon evolution vector as $V=\ell -Cn$. Preserving ${\theta }_{\ell }=0$ gives $C=({\mathcal{L}}_{\ell }{\theta }_{\ell })/({\mathcal{L}}_n{\theta }_{\ell })\ge 0$. Hence $V^2=-2C\le 0$: the future outer horizon is spacelike or null. Its area expansion is ${\theta }_V=-C{\theta }_n\ge 0$. These conclusions use the outer condition and the energy condition, not merely marginality.

For the global event horizon, the future-complete horizon focusing proof of the area theorem uses the same Null Raychaudhuri equation. Under the null energy condition, a negative generator expansion forces a future caustic in finite affine parameter. Future completeness and the usual regularity or predictability assumptions exclude such a caustic on the future event-horizon boundary. Its generator expansion is therefore nonnegative and its classical area cannot decrease. These assumptions matter: this is not an unconditional result for every null surface or every matter model.

Rotating and charged solutions provide further distinctions. A nonextremal Kerr black hole has $r_{\pm }=M\pm \sqrt{M^2-a^2}$, with $a=J/M$. Its outer Killing horizon is generated by ${\partial }_t+{\Omega }_H{\partial }_{\varphi }$, where ${\Omega }_H=a/(r_{+}^2+a^2)$, rather than by time translation alone. The ergosphere begins at the stationary-limit surface $g_{tt}=0$, whose radius is $M+\sqrt{M^2-a^2{\cos }^2\theta }$. Away from the axis this lies outside the event horizon: it forbids static observers but does not forbid escape to infinity. In Reissner-Nordstrom spacetime, the nonextremal radii are $r_{\pm }=M\pm \sqrt{M^2-Q^2}$. The outer surface is an event horizon, whereas the inner surface is a Cauchy horizon in the exact analytic extension.

A Cauchy horizon concerns predictability from initial data. The future domain of dependence $D^{+}(\Sigma )$ of a partial Cauchy surface consists of events for which every past-inextendible causal curve intersects $\Sigma$. Its future Cauchy horizon isBeyond it, causal influences can arrive without meeting the specified initial surface; data on that surface no longer determine the solution there. This is distinct from the inability to send signals to infinity. The inner horizon of the exact charged black hole supplies an example, and the definition necessarily specifies which initial surface is being used.

Flat spacetime itself has acceleration horizons. In the right Rindler wedge, set $t=\xi \sinh (a\tau )$ and $x=\xi \cosh (a\tau )$, with $\xi >0$. The Minkowski spacetime metric becomes $d{s}^2=a^2{\xi }^{2}d{\tau }^2-d{\xi }^2-d{y}^2-d{z}^2$. The null boundaries $t=x$ and $t=-x$ are Rindler horizons of the boost Killing flow. A uniformly accelerated observer cannot receive signals from one side of its future horizon, even though the curvature vanishes and inertial observers encounter no such boundary. These are observer and Killing horizons, not a black-hole event horizon defined using the full Minkowski null infinity.

In a spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric with noncompact spatial sections, radial light rays have $d\chi /dt=\pm 1/a(t)$. The particle horizon measures how far signals could have travelled since the initial cosmic time; the cosmological event horizon measures how far signals emitted now could ever travel toward a comoving observer. Their comoving and proper radii areThe respective horizon is present only if its integral is finite. The event-horizon integral uses the actual future endpoint, often $t_f=\infty$, so it is global and observer-dependent. For $a(t)=t^q$ on $0<t<\infty$, a finite particle horizon exists for $0<q<1$, while a finite event horizon exists for $q>1$. Neither integral is finite for $q=1$. In the expanding flat patch of de Sitter spacetime, $a=e^{Ht}$ and the proper event-horizon radius is $H^{-1}$. The static form $d{s}^2=(1-H^2{r}^2)d{t}^2-(1-H^2{r}^2{)}^{-1}d{r}^2-r^{2}d{\Omega }^2$ identifies it as a cosmological Killing horizon; its surface-gravity magnitude is $H$ with the central static time normalization.

Finally, the Hubble radius must not automatically be called an event horizon. For a flat expanding cosmology, the two future radial null expansions of a sphere of proper radius $R$ are ${\theta }_{\pm }=2(H\pm 1/R)$. At $R=H^{-1}$ the ingoing expansion vanishes, while outside it both expansions are positive: this is the cosmological marginal, past-trapped type rather than a future black-hole trapped surface. A dust universe with $a\propto t^{2/3}$ has such a Hubble sphere but no future event horizon. Global causal boundaries, slice-dependent trapped-surface boundaries, symmetry horizons and initial-data boundaries must therefore be distinguished, even when several coincide in a special example.

Suppress the angular three-spheres and use radial null coordinates $u=t-r_{\ast }$, $v=t+r_{\ast }$ with $d{r}_{\ast }/dr=1/V$. Compactifying these null coordinates puts radial light rays at 45 degrees in the Penrose diagram. Simple zeros of V give logarithmic ends of the tortoise coordinate and are crossed by regular null charts. The sign of V distinguishes static blocks, where r is spacelike, from inter-horizon blocks, where r is timelike.

The center is a genuine curvature singularity. An orthonormal-frame calculation gives the Kretschmann scalar of a five-dimensional charged black holeIt diverges at zero radius and is finite at positive horizons. Since the normal to a constant-r hypersurface has squared norm V, the singular boundary is spacelike when V is negative near zero and timelike when V is positive there.

For $Q=0$, V is negative inside the sole horizon and the maximal extension is Schwarzschild-like: two asymptotically flat exteriors, a future black-hole triangle ending at a spacelike singularity, and a past white hole triangle beginning at a spacelike singularity. The two pairs of horizon branches meet at a regular bifurcation sphere.

For $|Q|>M$, V is positive for every positive r. The radial conformal domain is a single exterior with a timelike naked singularity at its left boundary and the usual past/future null infinities on its outer boundaries. There is no horizon. These two cases are shown together below; red zigzags denote curvature singularities.

For $0<|Q|<M$, the exterior $r>r_{+}$ and deep interior $0<r<r_{-}$ are static, while $r_{-}<r<r_{+}$ is a trapped or time-reversed band. The outer roots are event horizons for a chosen exterior, and the inner roots are Cauchy horizons. The center is timelike because $V\sim Q^2/r^4>0$ there. In the exact analytic extension, crossing successive inner and outer horizon branches produces an infinite succession of exterior, trapped, inner-static and white hole blocks. The following finite strip specifies the repetition; it does not terminate the spacetime at the drawing's upper or lower edge.

For $|Q|=M$, $V=(1-M/r^2{)}^2$ is nonnegative on both sides of $r_h=\sqrt{M}$. There is no inter-horizon trapped band. Near the horizon, $r_{\ast }\sim -M/[4(r-r_h)]$, so the horizon is an infinite throat end of each static coordinate block. It is null and degenerate, without a regular bifurcation surface. The extension consists of alternating exterior and inner-static blocks, with timelike singularities in the latter. The separate conformal blocks below, together with their future-to-past horizon gluing rule, describe the full repeated extension. The open throat endpoints are ideal boundaries, not additional events where horizon branches meet.

Thus the neutral, strictly subextremal charged, extremal and overcharged cases all have distinct causal structures. These drawings describe the maximal analytic stationary metrics. The additional angular dimension changes areas and curvature falloff, but does not change these radial causal block types.

A positive-radius horizon occurs at a zero of V. Set $u=r^2>0$; multiplying by $r^4$ gives $u^2-2Mu+Q^2=0$. Thus real roots require $M^2-Q^2\ge 0$. With $M>0$, the horizon condition and radii areFor $0<|Q|<M$ both roots are positive, giving an outer event horizon and an inner Cauchy horizon. For $|Q|=M$ they coincide at $r_h=\sqrt{M}$. For $Q=0$ only $r_{+}=\sqrt{2M}$ is a horizon: the formal root $u=0$ was introduced by multiplication and is the singular origin, where the original expression for V is undefined. For $|Q|>M$ there is no horizon and the central singularity is naked. Each positive root is regular in ingoing coordinates $v=t+r_{\ast }$, where the radial metric is $-Vd{v}^2+2dvdr$.

Use geometrized units $G=c=1$ and positive mass $M$. The Schwarzschild metric initially describes an exterior region, not the whole black hole:Here $r$ is the areal radius and $t$ is Schwarzschild time, normalized at infinity. We must distinguish a removable coordinate singularity from a genuine curvature singularity. The Kretschmann scalar isIt is finite at $r=2M$ and diverges at $r=0$. Thus $r=2M$ can be crossed in a better chart, whereas $r=0$ cannot be made a regular point by changing the coordinate chart.

First integrate the Schwarzschild tortoise coordinate:The radial metric becomes $f(-d{t}^2+d{r}_{\ast }^2)$. Set $v=t+r_{\ast }$; the ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates giveThe radial block has determinant minus one and smooth coefficients at $r=2M$, so it extends through the future Schwarzschild event horizon. Its ingoing radial null geodesics have constant $v$, while the outgoing radial null geodesics obey $dr/dv=f/2$. In the future interior both future-directed radial null families decrease $r$; $r=0$ is therefore an unavoidable future boundary for causal motion there. The outgoing chart $u=t-r_{\ast }$ similarly gives $d{s}^2=-fd{u}^2-2dudr+r^{2}d{\Omega }^2$, extending through the past horizon. A single one of these null charts does not display both horizons or the entire extension.

To regularize both horizons together, introduce Kruskal–Szekeres coordinates in the original exterior:ThenFor $r>0$ the right side defining $UV$ decreases monotonically from one to minus infinity. In fact its derivative is $-r{e}^{r/(2M)}/(4M^2)$. Thus it determines a unique smooth $r=r(UV)$ wherever $UV<1$, including $UV=0$. At $r=2M$ the radial metric coefficient is finite and nonzero, proving actual regularity of both horizons and their intersection, rather than merely relabelling the old coordinate divergence. Allowing all real $U,V$ with $UV<1$ produces the simply connected maximal analytic extension, the Kruskal spacetime.

There are four regions of the Kruskal spacetime. The original exterior is $U<0,V>0$; a second asymptotically flat exterior is $U>0,V<0$. The future black hole has $U>0,V>0$ and $0<r<2M$; the past white hole has $U<0,V<0$ and the same range of areal radius. The horizon branches are $U=0$ and $V=0$. Their intersection $U=V=0$ is a regular bifurcation surface, a two-sphere of radius $2M$, not the centre of the spacetime. Each point of the radial diagram represents a symmetry two-sphere.

Put $T_K=(V+U)/2$ and $X_K=(V-U)/2$. Radial null geodesics have slopes $d{T}_K=\pm d{X}_K$, and the curvature singularities haveThe upper branch is the future spacelike Schwarzschild singularity; the lower branch is the white hole past singularity. The Killing vector field extends as ${\partial }_t=(V{\partial }_V-U{\partial }_U)/(4M)$. It is future directed in the original exterior and past directed in the other exterior for the chosen global time orientation; inside, this stationary vector is spacelike. In the future interior, $r$ is a time coordinate decreasing toward the singularity. For example, a radial infaller of unit specific Killing energy obeys $dr/d\tau =-\sqrt{2M/r}$ and reaches $r=0$ from the horizon in finite proper time $4M/3$. The curvature divergence and this geodesic endpoint show why the extension stops there.

For the global causal picture, compactify the null coordinates using $p=\arctan U$, $q=\arctan V$ and let $\mathcal{T}=2(p+q)/\pi$, $\mathcal{X}=2(q-p)/\pi$. The conformal compactification rescales the metric to remove the coordinate factors from the radial metric while preserving its null directions. Since $UV=1$ gives $p+q=\pm \pi /2$ on the two singular branches, they become the horizontal lines $\mathcal{T}=\pm 1$. The resulting Penrose diagram displays the two exteriors, each with its own past null infinity, future null infinity and spatial infinity, plus the future and past interiors. The singularities are spacelike boundaries; the horizons are interior null surfaces. Future event horizons separate events that can escape to an exterior's future null infinity from events in the black-hole interior.

The time-symmetric spatial slice has a bridge between the exteriors, but it is not a traversable passage. Future-directed causal curves have nondecreasing $U$ and $V$. Moving from the right exterior to the left would require $V$ to decrease from positive to negative; the reverse passage would require $U$ to decrease. Both are impossible. This proves the non-traversability of the Schwarzschild bridge. The complete eternal vacuum extension has two exteriors, a black hole and a white hole; it has no causal route between its exteriors. A black hole made by stellar collapse is a different global spacetime: its matter-filled past replaces the white hole region, and it normally has only one exterior. The vacuum extension constructed here should not be mistaken for the collapse history of a single star.

With electric charge, spherical electrovacuum instead gives the Reissner-Nordstrom metric, in an electromagnetic normalization absorbing the charge conversion constants:For $0<|Q|<M$, there are two simple horizons. Outside $r_{+}$ the metric is static; between $r_{-}$ and $r_{+}$, $f<0$ and $r$ is timelike. Inside $r_{-}$, $f>0$ again, so $r$ is spacelike and the $r=0$ singularity is timelike. The outer horizon is the event horizon; the inner horizon is a Cauchy horizon. The same logarithmic tortoise-coordinate and exponential-null-coordinate method crosses each simple horizon locally, but one exponential scale does not regularize both simultaneously: their surface gravities have different magnitudes,Continuing the exact metric through successive inner horizons produces repeated blocks with further exteriors, and evolution beyond a Cauchy horizon is not uniquely fixed by data on the original Cauchy hypersurface. The timelike singularity can be avoided by some trajectories in this ideal extension, unlike the unavoidable spacelike singularity of the future Schwarzschild spacetime interior. However, the enormous inner-horizon blueshift makes this exact continuation unstable: perturbations can cause mass inflation. This is an important qualification on the global structure of a charged spherical black hole.

At $|Q|=M$ the two horizons coalesce, $f=(1-M/r{)}^2$ and surface gravity is zero. The horizon is a degenerate Killing horizon, the tortoise-coordinate divergence becomes a pole and the ordinary nondegenerate Kruskal spacetime construction must be replaced. The exterior develops an infinitely long spatial throat and the formal Hawking temperature vanishes. For $|Q|>M$, no real zero of $f$ remains: the electrovacuum solution has a naked singularity, not a black hole. Consequently arbitrarily allowing charge changes the causal structure, not just the horizon radius.

Take both curvature radii to be one. Coordinate ranges depend on the global identification, which a line element alone cannot fix. For the ordinary two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime,This is the unit hyperboloid $X_0^2-X_1^2-X_2^2=-1$ in ambient signature $(+--)$, parametrized by $X_0=\sinh t$, $X_1=\cosh t\cos \chi$, $X_2=\cosh t\sin \chi$. Unwrapping $\chi$ instead gives its universal cover.

For two-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime, the embedding $X_0^2+X_1^2-X_2^2=1$ in ambient signature $(++-)$ is parametrized by $X_0=\cosh r\cos t$, $X_1=\cosh r\sin t$, $X_2=\sinh r$. On this hyperboloid $r\in \mathbb{R}$ and $t$ is periodic modulo $2\pi$, creating closed timelike circles. The physically usual universal cover removes that periodicity:Both signs of $r$ are needed for the full two-dimensional spatial line. Taking $r\ge 0$ without an additional construction would omit one of its two ends. The following causal comparison uses the AdS universal cover.

Both models are maximally symmetric Lorentzian manifolds, with constant sectional curvature and no curvature singularities. In the paper's convention their Ricci scalars are respectively $+2$ and $-2$. The de Sitter spatial scale factor $a(t)=\cosh t$ contracts to a nonzero minimum and then expands; $t=0$ is not a big-bang singularity. The AdS metric is static, and ${\partial }_t$ is timelike everywhere because $g_{tt}={\cosh }^{2}r>0$.

The embeddings give a concise classification of all affinely parametrized geodesics. Geodesic acceleration in the ambient space is normal to the hyperboloid, hence proportional to $X$. Differentiating the constraint and setting $X^{\prime 2}=\kappa$, with $\kappa =1,0,-1$ for timelike, null and spacelike curves, givesEvery solution stays in the two-plane spanned by its initial point $P$ and tangent $V$, so every geodesic is a plane section through the ambient origin. For de Sitter, these are $P\cosh s+V\sinh s$ for timelike curves, $P+sV$ for null curves, and $P\cos s+V\sin s$ for spacelike curves. Thus timelike geodesics and null geodesics are complete and nonclosed, while spacelike geodesics are closed circles on the ordinary hyperboloid. These are the geodesics of two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime.

For AdS the roles of the circular and hyperbolic solutions are reversed: timelike curves are $P\cos s+V\sin s$, null curves are $P+sV$, and spacelike curves are $P\cosh s+V\sinh s$. Timelike curves close after proper time $2\pi$ on the hyperboloid, but their lifts on the universal cover continue to ever later time rather than forming closed curves. All three kinds extend for arbitrary affine parameter. This is geodesics of two-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime, not an assertion that geodesics reach the conformal boundary in finite physical affine length.

The coordinate first integrals make the behavior concrete. In de Sitter, spatial rotational symmetry gives a conserved $P_{\chi }={\cosh }^{2}td\chi /ds$, and normalization givesConstant-$\chi$ observers are timelike geodesics. Nontrivial null geodesics have affine parameter proportional to $\sinh t$, which diverges at both $t\to \pm \infty$. In AdS the conserved static energy is $E={\cosh }^{2}rdt/ds$, withFor timelike curves, $E\ge 1$ andThey oscillate through the center and never reach spatial infinity; $r=0$ is the $E=1$ geodesic. For null curves, $\lambda =\pm \sinh r/E+\text{constant}$, so both ends are at infinite affine parameter. Spacelike AdS geodesics likewise extend to the two spatial ends.

For the conformal structure, introduce de Sitter conformal timeMultiplying by ${\cos }^2\eta$ gives the conformal cylinder of two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime. The past and future conformal infinities are spacelike circles at $\eta =\mp \pi /2$. Null curves are $\chi =\pm \eta +\text{constant}$ modulo $2\pi$. Although the conformal-time interval is finite, their physical affine parameters and timelike observers' proper times are infinite at its ends. Constant-$\eta$ circles are Cauchy hypersurfaces; global de Sitter is globally hyperbolic.

For AdS putThe conformal strip of two-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime has unbounded time and timelike conformal boundaries at $\psi =\pm \pi /2$. Null curves have $t\pm \psi =\text{constant}$. A signal from any finite $r$ reaches the center in coordinate time $|\psi |<\pi /2$, and a null curve crosses the entire conformal strip in time $\pi$. This finite coordinate travel time coexists with infinite physical affine length to the boundary. The covering spacetime has no closed timelike curves, but is not globally hyperbolic: causal curves can arrive from timelike infinity without meeting a proposed initial slice. Field evolution consequently requires boundary conditions as well as initial data. Unwrapping time removes closed timelike curves, not the timelike boundary.

The contrast in observer event horizons follows directly from these null curves. For the complete de Sitter observer $\chi =0$, let $d(\chi ,0)\in [0,\pi ]$ be shortest angular distance. An event can send a signal to this observer before its future endpoint precisely whenEquality is its future observer event horizon. It can receive a signal emitted by the observer after its past endpoint precisely when $d(\chi ,0)<\eta +\pi /2$, whose equality is the past horizon. In the observer's fundamental domain these horizons are null linesTheir intersection encloses the observer's static patch of de Sitter spacetime, the diamond $d(\chi ,0)<\pi /2-|\eta |$. They are observer-dependent cosmological horizons, not curvature singularities or Cauchy horizons. Every inertial observer has the corresponding horizons by de Sitter symmetry.

For the complete AdS static observer at $r=0$, every event at finite $r$ can send a signal to the observer, and can receive one, because time is unbounded and the coordinate distance $|\psi |$ is finite. Thus there is no corresponding global static-observer event horizon. The lapse never vanishes in these coordinates. Restricted accelerated-observer patches can have observer horizons, but those are distinct from the global static model. On the original periodic-time AdS hyperboloid, the more serious issue is closed timelike curves.

The figure identifies the de Sitter spatial edges and displays only a finite time window of the AdS covering strip, whose time continues indefinitely. Solid red curves are null geodesics; the oscillating AdS curve is a timelike geodesic. The shaded de Sitter diamond is the static observer's two-way communication region, not the entire spacetime.

The concise comparison is de Sitter has spacelike conformal infinities and cosmological observer horizons; covering AdS has timelike conformal boundaries and no horizon for an eternal global static observer. Both are constant-curvature and geodesically complete, but their geodesic recurrence, global topology, causal boundaries and initial-value properties differ.

For the full unit-radius two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime, the coordinate ranges areOne can use $0\le \chi <2\pi$ with endpoints identified. If the identification is omitted, the same line element describes the universal covering spacetime instead. The periodicity follows from the hyperboloid embeddingThe induced ambient Minkowski metric is precisely the given Lorentzian metric.

Using an affine parameter $s$, the geodesic Lagrangian is $\frac{1}{2}({\dot{t}}^2-{\cosh }^{2}t{\dot{\chi }}^2)$. The nonzero Christoffel symbols areThus the geodesic equations and their first integrals areHere $\epsilon =1$ for unit-speed timelike geodesics, $0$ for null geodesics and $-1$ for unit-speed spacelike geodesics. The conserved $J$ is the geodesic conserved quantity from a Killing vector for the angular symmetry.

All geodesics of two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime can be written especially simply in the embedding. If $P$ is the initial point and $V$ the initial tangent, with $P^2=-1$, $P\cdot V=0$, $V^2=\epsilon$, the geodesic has normal ambient acceleration $X^{\prime \prime }=\epsilon X$. ThereforeThese curves stay in the two-plane spanned by $P$ and $V$, preserve both constraints and have no tangential acceleration. They consequently solve the geodesic equation and exhaust all initial directions.

An isometry can move the chosen point to $P=(0,1,0)$, namely $(t,\chi )=(0,0)$. For future-directed timelike geodesics take $V=(\cosh \alpha ,0,\sinh \alpha )$, obtainingThe continuous angular branch has $|\chi |<\pi /2$, and every real $\alpha$ gives a distinct timelike direction. The two null geodesics have $V=(1,0,\pm 1)$ andFor spacelike geodesics take $V=(\sinh \alpha ,0,\cosh \alpha )$, givingThey are closed with period $2\pi$ in affine arclength and $|t|\le |\alpha |$. In particular, $\alpha =0$ is the equatorial geodesic $t=0$. These three families, with reversals of parametrization allowed, are the requested complete set through the chosen point.

The conformal time substitution givesHenceMultiplying by ${\cos }^{2}T$ gives the regular conformal cylinder of two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime. Adding $T=\pm \pi /2$ completes the conformal compactification; both boundary circles are spacelike. Null geodesics are straight lines $\chi =\pm T$ through the origin. The other families have the useful diagram equationsThe image sketches representative directions from each family; the formulas allow all intermediate directions.

For the complete observer $\chi =0$, let $d(\chi ,0)\in [0,\pi ]$ be the shortest angular distance on the circle. Since light travels one unit of angular distance per unit conformal time, an event at $(T,\chi )$ can signal to the observer at some finite future time precisely whenEquality defines its future observer event horizon. Likewise an event can receive a signal emitted by the observer precisely whenand equality defines the past horizon. In the lift $-\pi \le \chi \le \pi$, their branches are $\chi =\pm (\pi /2-T)$ and $\chi =\pm (T+\pi /2)$. The common communication region is the diamond $|\chi |+|T|<\pi /2$, the observer's static patch of de Sitter spacetime. These are the observer horizons in two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime. Every complete timelike observer has analogous horizons after a de Sitter isometry; they depend on the observer, rather than enclosing an intrinsic black-hole region.

Despite these horizons, each constant-$T$ circle is a Cauchy hypersurface of the full spacetime: any inextendible causal curve crosses it exactly once. The global spacetime is therefore globally hyperbolic and has no Cauchy horizons. The conformal boundaries lie at infinite proper time for complete timelike geodesics and infinite affine distance for complete null geodesics, so their finite height in the diagram is not a physical incompleteness.

Use the original PDF's spatial Ricci component $R_{\chi \chi }=a\ddot{a}+2{\dot{a}}^2+2$; the converted TeX's $2\dot{a}\ddot{a}$ is a transcription defect. Continue with $c=1$ and signature $(-,+,+,+)$. Tracing the vacuum Einstein field equations with a cosmological constant gives $R=4\Lambda$, and hence $R_{ab}=\Lambda g_{ab}$. The time component therefore gives $\ddot{a}=(\Lambda /3)a$. Substituting this into the spatial component givesThe left side is strictly positive, so $\Lambda >0$ is necessary for a real positive closed scale factor. Define $\ell =\sqrt{3/\Lambda }$. The acceleration equation has solution $a=A{e}^{t/\ell }+B{e}^{-t/\ell }$, and the first integral fixes $4AB={\ell }^2$. Taking the positive scale-factor branch and shifting the origin to the minimum givesThe universe contracts for $t<0$, has its nonzero minimum $a=\ell$ at $t=0$, and expands for $t>0$. The minimum is a smooth bounce, not a curvature singularity.

Introduce the dimensionless time $\tau =t/\ell$. Then the closed slicing of de Sitter spacetime isOne can identify it explicitly: in five-dimensional Minkowski space, set $X^0=\ell \sinh \tau$ and $X^I=\ell \cosh \tau n^I$, where ${\sum }_{I=1}^4(n^I{)}^2=1$. These coordinates satisfy $-(X^0{)}^2+{\sum }_I(X^I{)}^2={\ell }^2$, and their induced metric is the one above. Thus the solution is global de Sitter spacetime, with spherical spatial topology and both contracting and expanding parts.

The time entering the printed compactification formula is this rescaled time. WriteDirect differentiation and elementary trigonometry give $dT/d\tau =\mathrm{sech}\tau$, $\sin T=\tanh \tau$ and $\cos T=\mathrm{sech}\tau$. ThereforeMultiplying by $(\cos T/\ell {)}^2$ gives the metric of a finite-time slab of the Einstein static universe, often called the Einstein cylinder. This is a conformal transformation of the metric and does not assert that the transformed matter content remains vacuum. The coordinate ranges areThe angular-coordinate degeneracies at the poles are the usual regular spherical ones.

Radial null lines satisfy $d\chi =\pm dT$, so the Penrose diagram is the square displayed below. Every interior point represents an angular two-sphere. Its top and bottom are the spacelike conformal infinities ${\mathcal{I}}^{+}$ and ${\mathcal{I}}^{-}$ at $T=\pi /2$ and $T=-\pi /2$; they are excluded from the physical spacetime and are not curvature singularities. The vertical sides $\chi =0$ and $\chi =\pi$ represent the regular north and south poles of the three-sphere, not spatial edges of the universe.

A particle horizon at an observer's current time bounds the comoving sources whose light could have reached that observer over the available past conformal interval. Here the cosmological past extends to $t=-\infty$, but its conformal duration is finite. For a comoving observer at $\chi =0$,Since $0<{\chi }_p<\pi$ at every finite time, a particle horizon exists. The corresponding null boundary in the diagram is $\chi =T+\pi /2$, emerging from the observer's past endpoint at ${\mathcal{I}}^{-}$. The antipodal point never has enough time to send a signal received at a finite proper time.

An observer event horizon bounds the events that can ever send a signal to the observer's future-inextendible worldline. The remaining conformal time fixes its distance:This too lies strictly between zero and $\pi$ at finite time, so the observer has a cosmological event horizon. Its null line ends at the observer's future endpoint on ${\mathcal{I}}^{+}$. Both horizon spheres have areal radius $a\sin \chi =\ell$, though their comoving angular positions differ except at $T=0$. These are the cosmological horizons in global de Sitter spacetime; changing the comoving observer relocates them by an isometry.

A Cauchy horizon is the boundary of the domain determined by data on a chosen partial Cauchy hypersurface; beyond it an inextendible causal curve can avoid that initial surface. Each complete constant-$T$ three-sphere here is a Cauchy hypersurface. To see this directly, a causal curve in the conformal metric has spatial speed at most one when parameterized by $T$. On any finite interior time interval its path therefore has a limit in the complete compact three-sphere. If an inextendible curve stopped at an interior time, that limit would allow its continuation, a contradiction. Its time range consequently extends between both conformal ends, and monotonicity makes it cross any complete constant-$T$ sphere exactly once. Its domain of dependence is the entire physical spacetime.

Thus particle and cosmological event horizons exist for every comoving observer, while the complete global Cauchy slices have no Cauchy horizons. Horizons of a restricted static patch or a deliberately partial initial surface are relative to that restriction; they do not alter the global Cauchy conclusion.