EVIDENCE FOR AN OSCILLATORY SINGULARITY IN GENERIC U(1) SYMMETRICAL COSMOLOGIES ON T(3)XR - ART. NO. 064023

A long standing conjecture by Belinskii, Lifshitz, and Khalatnikov tha t the singularity in generic gravitational collapse is locally oscilla tory is tested numerically in vacuum, U(1) symmetric cosmological spac etimes on T(3)xR. If the velocity term dominated (VTD) solution to Ein stein's equations is substituted into the Hamiltonian for the full Ein stein evolution equations, one term is found to grow exponentially. Th is generates a prediction that oscillatory behavior involving this ter m and another (which the VTD solution causes to decay exponentially) s hould be observed in the approach to the singularity. Numerical simula tions strongly support this prediction. [S0556-2821(98)08818-3].