Even if the universe is filled with violent ripples and 'jagged' gravity waves, it still follows the same size rules as a smooth one.
March 26, 2026
Original Paper
Comparison theory for Lipschitz spacetimes
arXiv · 2603.24195
The Takeaway
Einstein’s equations usually require space to be perfectly smooth, but real cosmic events like colliding black holes create 'kinks' and jumps in the fabric of reality. This research proves that even these rough, fractured versions of the universe are still bound by fundamental geometric laws that prevent them from expanding uncontrollably or behaving chaotically.
From the abstract
We prove a globally hyperbolic spacetime with locally Lipschitz continuous metric and timelike distributional Ricci curvature bounded from below obeys the timelike measure contraction property. The remarkable class of examples of spacetimes that are covered by this result includes impulsive gravity waves, thin shells, and matched spacetimes.As applications, we get new comparison theorems for Lipschitz spacetimes in sharp form: d'Alembert, timelike Brunn-Minkowski, and timelike Bishop-Gromov. Und