Vorticity- and shear-free space-time in general relativity (Q794301)

The vorticity- and shear-free nonstatic space-times with perfect fluid source in general relativity are studied. It is shown that such spaces are either spherically symmetric or pseudospherical or plane symmetric. The author uses a comoving coordinate system, where the metric can be written as \(ds^ 2=e^{\nu}dt^ 2+g_{\ell m}dx^{\ell}dx^ m\). As the motion is vorticity free, the velocity vector \(u^{\alpha}\) is along the t axis (i.e. \(u^ 0=e^{-\nu /2}\) and \(u^{\ell}=0)\). For vorticity and shear to vanish, the acceleration \(\dot u{}^{\alpha}=u^{\alpha}_{;\beta}u^{\beta}\) must satisfy the conditions: (i) \(u_{\alpha;\beta}=(1/3)\theta(g_{\alpha \beta}- u_{\alpha}u_{\beta})+\dot u^{\alpha}u_{\beta}\), and (ii) \(u^{\alpha}_{;\beta \alpha}-u^{\alpha}_{;\alpha \beta}=- R_{\alpha \beta}u^{\alpha}\), where \(R_{\alpha \beta}\) is the Ricci tensor connected to the energy-momentum tensor \(T_{\alpha \beta}\) through the Einstein equation \(R_{\alpha \beta}-(1/2)Rg_{\alpha \beta}=-T_{\alpha \beta}\). For a perfect fluid \(T^{\alpha}_{\beta}=(p+\rho)u^{\alpha}u_{\beta}- p\delta^{\alpha}_{\beta}\), p and \(\rho\) being pressure and respectively density of the fluid. The solutions obtained by the author are: (i) the standard spherically symmetric form, the pseudospherical form, the plane symmetric form. The first solution can serve as a model for gravitational explosion or implosion of a massive star.