Lie groups of conformal motions acting on null orbits (Q1267052)

This paper studies spacetimes that admit a three-dimensional group of conformal motions which act on null 3-dimensional orbits and which contain a 2-dimensional Abelian isometry subgroup acting on 2-dimensional spacelike orbits. It starts with a useful review of the state of the art of the problem and then studies the problem in complete generality (including finding the metric and expressions for the conformal vector field). The field equations are introduced at the last moment and are taken as constraining the spacetime to be a perfect fluid. When the perfect fluid constraint is introduced, the restrictions on the metric are computed and listed in a convenient form. The similar problem when the (3-dimensional) orbits are non-null was considered in an earlier paper by the same authors.