Construction of spacetimes from initial data

As relativistic effects become more accessible to physical experiment and observation, it becomes important to be able to theoretically analyze the behavior of relativistic model systems designed to incorporate such measurable effects. This dissertation describes in detail the initial value (IV) procedure for carrying out such analyses (i.e., for ''building spacetimes''). We report progress--of the author as well as others--in all of these areas: (1) The generalized Bergmann-Dirac (BD) procedure can be used to systematically translate any theory into 3+1 form. (2) The York procedure turns the constraints of Einstein's theory into a set of four elliptic equations for four unknowns (with the rest of the initial data ''relatively free''). (3) The maximal and K-foliation schemes appear to give preferred kinematics for the generic spacetimes one might build. We discuss the sense in which these foliations are preferred, and compare them with others. We then show how to find maximal and K-surfaces, both in a given spacetime (e.g. Schwarzschild) and in one being built from scratch. (4) Many physically interesting systems have symmetries which considerably simplify the equations. After discussing how, in general, one can build symmetries into initial data, and how one can use them to simplify the analysis, we look at a particular example symmetry: spacetimes with two space-like translation Killing Vectors. (''2T'')