No label defined (Q4348685)

It is known that the characteristic vector \(X\) of a space \((M,g)\) is determined by the equations \[ \nabla_bh^{ab} =\lambda X^a,\;h^{ab} =g^{ac} g^{bd} h_{cd},\;R_{abcd} X^bX^c =h_{ad}, \] where \(g=(g_{ab})\) and \(R_{abcd}\) are the metric and the Riemann curvature tensors, respectively, and \(h_{ab}\) the corresponding characteristic tensor. Here \(\nabla\) is the covariant derivative operator. In this paper, the author finds the characteristic vector \(X\) of spherically symmetrical spacetimes \((M,g)\) whose metric is given by \[ ds^2= g_{00} dt^2+ 2dt dr-r^2 (d\theta^2+ \sin^2 \theta d \varphi^2), \] where \(g_{00} =g_{00}(t,r)\) and \((t,r,\theta, \varphi)\) are spherical coordinates. By computing all metric coefficients, the Christoffel symbols and the corresponding curvature components, the author shows that \(X\) is of the form \((0,\nu (t,r),0,0)\). Based on the above, the corresponding characteristic tensors are found for the possible values of \(\nu\).