An asymptotic characterisation of the Kerr spacetime

Abstract We provide a characterisation of the Kerr spacetime close to future null infinity using the asymptotic characteristic initial value problem in a conformally compactified spacetime. Stewart’s gauge is used to set up the past-oriented characteristic initial value problem. By a theorem of M. Mars characterising the Kerr spacetime, we provide conditions for the existence of an asymptotically timelike Killing vector on the development of the initial data by demanding that the spacetime is endowed with a Killing spinor. The conditions on the characteristic initial data ensuring the existence of a Killing spinor are, in turn, analysed. Finally, we write the conditions on the initial data in terms of the free data in the characteristic initial value problem. As a result, we characterise the Kerr spacetime using only a section of future null infinity and its intersection with an outgoing null hypersurface.