Invariant Gibbs measures for the three-dimensional wave equation with a Hartree nonlinearity I: measures

In this two-paper series, we prove the invariance of the Gibbs measure for a three-dimensional wave equation with a Hartree nonlinearity. The main novelty is the singularity of the Gibbs measure with respect to the Gaussian free field. The singularity has several consequences in both measure-theoretic and dynamical aspects of our argument. In this paper, we construct and study the Gibbs measure. Our approach is based on earlier work of Barashkov and Gubinelli for the Φ34-model. Most importantly, our truncated Gibbs measures are tailored towards the dynamical aspects in the second part of the series. In addition, we develop new tools dealing with the non-locality of the Hartree interaction. We also determine the exact threshold between singularity and absolute continuity of the Gibbs measure depending on the regularity of the interaction potential.