We determine the leading order falloff behavior of the Weyl tensor in higher-dimensional Einstein spacetimes (with and without a cosmological constant) as one approaches infinity along a congruence of null geodesics. The null congruence is assumed to “expand” in all directions near infinity (but it is otherwise generic), which includes in particular asymptotically flat spacetimes. In contrast to the well-known four-dimensional peeling property, the falloff rate of various Weyl components depends substantially on the chosen boundary conditions and is also influenced by the presence of a cosmological constant. The leading component is always algebraically special, but in various cases, it can be of type N, III, or II.

• Received 2 August 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.90.104011