Splitting theorems for weighted Finsler spacetimes via the 𝑝-d'Alembertian: Beyond the Berwald case

Abstract A timelike splitting theorem for Finsler spacetimes was previously established by the third author, in collaboration with Lu and Minguzzi, under relatively strong hypotheses, including the Berwald condition. This contrasts with the more general results known for positive definite Finsler manifolds. In this article, we employ a recently developed strategy for proving timelike splitting theorems using the elliptic 𝑝-d’Alembertian. This approach, pioneered by Braun, Gigli, McCann, Sämann, and the second author, allows us to remove the restrictive assumptions of the earlier splitting theorem. For timelike geodesically complete Finsler spacetimes, we establish a diffeomorphic splitting. In the specific case of Berwald spacetimes, we show that the Busemann function generates a group of isometries via translations. Furthermore, for Berwald spacetimes, we extend these splitting theorems by replacing the assumption of timelike geodesic completeness with global hyperbolicity. Our results encompass and generalize the timelike splitting theorems for weighted Lorentzian manifolds previously obtained by Case, Woolgar, and Wylie.