Trapped surface formation in general relativity can be studied through a coupled set of nonlinear equations, where various terms can be neglected, as was proved by a rigorous mathematical analysis of Christodoulou. This paper is devoted to a pedagogical synthesis of the mathematical formalism employed in this analysis, i.e. the optical structure of general relativity investigated by Christodoulou, Klainerman and other authors after them.
Categories: gr-qc hep-th