Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
An intrinsic pseudodistance dM is associated to the underlying causal structure of a Lorentzian manifold (M, g). An infinitesimal form for dM is defined on the bundle of null vectors over M and is used to prove that, under certain physically reasonable energy conditions, M is conformally hyperbolic, i.e. that dM is a true distance. As a corollary we obtain sufficient conditions for the conformal hyperbolicity of a globally hyperbolic space-time. Some exact solutions of the Einstein field equations are discussed and possible applications to the study of singularities are outlined.