Initial Value Problem Report of Workshop A3

Abstract

The logical distinction between intensive and extensive definitions finds an amusing reflection in the rather different ways in which contributions are solicited for a scientific meeting and in which the outcome of the meeting is reported in conference proceedings. While the instructions to participants describe what they ought to talk about, the proceedings summarize what they actually did talk about. In this spirit, the present report is purely extensive. It is not intended to impose on the reader my ideas about what is the contemporary worldwide status of the initial value problem and Hamiltonian formulation of the general theory of relativity, and even less my ideas about what this status ought to be. It is simply a brief summary of what happened in the two afternoon sessions devoted to the workshop. Anyone interested in details should go to the original papers by the participants.

On Sabbatical leave at Imperial College, London, England.