Conserved charges for gravity with locally anti-de sitter asymptotics

A new formula for the conserved charges in 3+1 gravity for spacetimes with local anti-de Sitter asymptotic geometry is proposed. It is shown that requiring the action to have an extremum for this class of asymptotia sets the boundary term that must be added to the Lagrangian as the Euler density with a fixed weight factor. The resulting action gives rise to the mass and angular momentum as Noether charges associated to the asymptotic Killing vectors without requiring specification of a reference background in order to have a convergent expression. A consequence of this definition is that any negative constant curvature spacetime has vanishing Noether charges. These results remain valid in the Lambda = 0 limit.     

On space-time permeated by the perfect magnetofluid

A space-time permeated by the self-gravitating perfect fluid with infinite electrical conductivity and constant magnetic permeability (perfect magnetofluid) is investigated. For aC space defined as the space in which the divergence of conformal curvature vanishes, it is proved that the rotation explicitly depends on the magnetic field. In aJ space characterized by the vanishing of the divergence of Petrov space-matter tensor, the invariance of the energy density, the isotropic pressure, and the magnitude of the magnetic field along the divergence-free magnetic lines is established. It is found that if the stress-energy tensor of the perfect magnetofluid is a Killing tensor, the energy density, the isotropic pressure, and the magnitude of the magnetic field are constant. Moreover it is shown that the stream lines are expansion-free and the magnetic lines are divergence-free. It is proved that the complexion of the field of the perfect magnetofluid remains invariant along the magnetic lines if and only if these lines are normal to the lines of vorticity.     

Curvature and Weyl collineations of Bianchi type V spacetimes

The objective of this paper is twofold: (a) First the curvature collineations of the Bianchi type V spacetimes are studied using rank argument of curvature matrix. It is found that the rank of the 6×6 curvature matrix is 3, 4, 5 or 6 for these spacetimes. In one of the rank 3 cases the Bianchi type V spacetime admits proper curvature collineations which form infinite dimensional Lie algebra. (b) Then the Weyl collineations of the Bianchi type V spacetimes are investigated using rank argument of the Weyl matrix. It is obtained that the rank of the 6×6 Weyl matrix for Bianchi type V spacetimes is 0, 4 or 6. It is further shown that these spacetimes do not admit proper Weyl collineations, except in the trivial rank 0 case, which obviously form infinite dimensional Lie algebra. In some special cases it is found that these spacetimes admit Weyl collineations in addition to the Killing vectors, which are in fact proper conformal Killing vectors. The obtained conformal Killing vectors form four-dimensional Lie algebra.     

Existence of Constant Mean Curvature Foliations in Spacetimes with Two-Dimensional Local Symmetry

It is shown that in a class of maximal globally hyperbolic spacetimes admitting two local Killing vectors, the past (defined with respect to an appropriate time orientation) of any compact constant mean curvature hypersurface can be covered by a foliation of compact constant mean curvature hypersurfaces. Moreover, the mean curvature of the leaves of this foliation takes on arbitrarily negative values and so the initial singularity in these spacetimes is a crushing singularity. The simplest examples occur when the spatial topology is that of a torus, with the standard global Killing vectors, but more exotic topologies are also covered. In the course of the proof it is shown that in this class of spacetimes a kind of positive mass theorem holds. The symmetry singles out a compact surface passing through any given point of spacetime and the Hawking mass of any such surface is non-negative. If the Hawking mass of any one of these surfaces is zero then the entire spacetime is flat. Received: 15 July 1996 / Accepted: 12 March 1997     

Horizons and singularities in static,spherically symmetric spacetimes

We make a thorough study of the regions near finite-order metric-singularity boundaries of static, spherically symmetric spacetimes. After distinguishing curvature singularities from other types of metric breakdown, we examine the eigenvalues of the energy tensor near the singularities for positivity and energy dominance, find the causal class of the t-translation (static) Killing field, and ascertain the presence or absence of timelike, null, and spacelike geodesic incompleteness for each spacetime. For a certain subclass of spacetimes, we also show the completeness of all timelike and spacelike curves despite the superficial failure of the metric.     

Thermodynamical laws and spacetime geometry

We examine the conditions imposed on spacetime geometry by linear and extended thermodynamics. In this analysis we confine ourselves on shear-free spacetimes with divergence-free Weyl tensor. This results in a variety of well-known spacetimes which have to have simple kinematic properties as well as very restricted source structure. In all cases the thermodynamical considerations show the privileged role of the equation p = – which can be interpreted as cosmological constant. Moreover, it is interesting to observe that the restrictions imposed on the spacetime geometry in the case of extended thermodynamics (for vanishing anisotropic pressure) are much stronger than in the linear case.     

Stationary spinning strings and symmetries of classical spacetimes

We explore the symmetries of classical stationary spacetimes in terms of the dynamics of a spinning string described by a worldsheet supersymmetric action. We show that for stationary configurations of the string, the action reduces to that for a pseudo-classical spinning point particle in an effective space, which is a conformally scaled quotient space of the original spacetime. As an example, we consider the stationary spinning string in the Kerr–Newman spacetime, whose motion is equivalent to that of the spinning point particle in the three-dimensional effective space. We present the Killing tensor as well as the spin-valued Killing vector of this space. However, the nongeneric supersymmetry corresponding to the Killing–Yano tensor of the Kerr–Newman spacetime is lost in the effective space.     

A simple characterization of generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes

A generalized Robertson–Walker spacetime is the warped product with base an open interval of the real line endowed with the opposite of its metric and base any Riemannian manifold. The family of generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes widely extends the one of classical Robertson–Walker spacetimes. Further, generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes appear as a privileged class of inhomogeneous spacetimes admitting an isotropic radiation. In this section we prove a very simple characterization of generalized Robertson–Walker spacetimes; namely, a Lorentzian manifold is a generalized Robertson–Walker spacetime if and only if it admits a timelike concircular vector field.     

The Role of Shear in Expanding G2 Orthogonal Perfect Fluid Models

For G₂ orthogonal expanding perfect fluid spacetimes we prove that vanishing of shear implies vanishing of acceleration or spacetime is plane-symmetric. That means inhomogeneous spacetimes must always be shearing. Non-singular G₂ perfect fluid models will thus be both inhomogeneous and anisotropic.     

Einstein-Maxwell Spacetime with Two Commuting Spacelike Killing Vector Fields and Newman-Penrose Formalism

Einstein-Maxwell spacetimes endowed with twocommuting spacelike Killing vector fields areconsidered. Subject to the hypotheses that one of thetwo null geodesic congruence orthogonal to thetwo-surface generated by the two commuting spacelikeKilling vector fields is shearfree and theelectromagnetic field is non null, it is shown that,with a specific choice of null tetrad, theNewman-Penrose equations together with the Maxwell equations for theclass of spacetime considered may be reduced to asecond-order ode of Sturm-Liouville type, from whichexact solutions of the class of spacetimes consideredmay be constructed. Examples of exact solutions arethen given. Exact solutions with distribution-valuedWeyl curvature describing the scattering ofelectromagnetic shock wave with gravitational impulsiveor shock wave of variable polarisation are also constructed.     

The Carter constant and Petrov classification of the Vaidya–Einstein–Kerr spacetime

The existence of the Carter constant in the Vaidya–Einstein–Kerr (VEK) spacetime and its relation to the Petrov type is investigated. This spacetime is an example of a black hole in an asymptotically non-flat background. We construct the Carter constant and obtain the Killing tensor in the VEK spacetime. The Newman–Penrose formalism is employed to obtain the spin coefficients. We present a complete (Petrov) classification of the VEK spacetime and the special case of the non-rotating Vaidya–Einstein–Schwarzschild spacetime. We demonstrate explicitly that both spacetimes are of type-D.     

Homothetic and conformal symmetries of solutions to Einstein's equations

We present several results about the nonexistence of solutions of Einstein's equations with homothetic or conformal symmetry. We show that the only spatially compact, globally hyperbolic spacetimes admitting a hypersurface of constant mean extrinsic curvature, and also admitting an infinitesimal proper homothetic symmetry, are everywhere locally flat; this assumes that the matter fields either obey certain energy conditions, or are the Yang-Mills or massless Klein-Gordon fields. We find that the only vacuum solutions admitting an infinitesimal proper conformal symmetry are everywhere locally flat spacetimes and certain plane wave solutions. We show that if the dominant energy condition is assumed, then Minkowski spacetime is the only asymptotically flat solution which has an infinitesimal conformal symmetry that is asymptotic to a dilation. In other words, with the exceptions cited, homothetic or conformal Killing fields are in fact Killing in spatially compact or asymptotically flat spactimes. In the conformal procedure for solving the initial value problem, we show that data with infinitesimal conformal symmetry evolves to a spacetime with full isometry.     

A note on Noether symmetries and conformal Killing vectors

A conjecture was stated in Hussain et al. (Gen Relativ Grav 41:2399, 2009), that the conformal Killing vectors form a subalgebra of the symmetries of the Lagrangian that minimizes arc length, for any spacetime. Here, a counter example is constructed to demonstrate that the above statement is not true in general for spacetimes of non-zero curvature.     

Obtaining a class of type O pure radiation metrics with a negative cosmological constant,using invariant operators

Using the generalised invariant formalism we derive a special subclass of conformally flat spacetimes whose Ricci tensor has a pure radiation and a Ricci scalar component. The method used is a development of the methods used earlier for pure radiation spacetimes of Petrov types O and N, respectively. In this paper we demonstrate how to handle, in the generalised invariant formalism, spacetimes with isotropy freedom and rich Killing vector structure. Once the spacetimes have been constructed, it is straightforward to deduce their Karlhede classification: the Karlhede algorithm terminates at the fourth derivative order, and the spacetimes all have one degree of null isotropy and three, four or five Killing vectors.     

QFT on homothetic Killing twist deformed curved spacetimes

We study the quantum field theory (QFT) of a free, real, massless and curvature coupled scalar field on self-similar symmetric spacetimes, which are deformed by an abelian Drinfel’d twist constructed from a Killing and a homothetic Killing vector field. In contrast to deformations solely by Killing vector fields, such as the Moyal-Weyl Minkowski spacetime, the equation of motion and Green’s operators are deformed. We show that there is a *-algebra isomorphism between the QFT on the deformed and the formal power series extension of the QFT on the undeformed spacetime. We study the convergent implementation of our deformations for toy-models. For these models it is found that there is a *-isomorphism between the deformed Weyl algebra and a reduced undeformed Weyl algebra, where certain strongly localized observables are excluded. Thus, our models realize the intuitive physical picture that noncommutative geometry prevents arbitrary localization in spacetime.     

Some spacetimes with higher rank Killing–Stäckel tensors

By applying the lightlike Eisenhart lift to several known examples of low-dimensional integrable systems admitting integrals of motion of higher-order in momenta, we obtain four- and higher-dimensional Lorentzian spacetimes with irreducible higher-rank Killing tensors. Such metrics, we believe, are first examples of spacetimes admitting higher-rank Killing tensors. Included in our examples is a four-dimensional supersymmetric pp-wave spacetime, whose geodesic flow is superintegrable. The Killing tensors satisfy a non-trivial Poisson–Schouten–Nijenhuis algebra. We discuss the extension to the quantum regime.     

Spherically symmetric, self-similar spacetimes

In this paper, we show that self-similarity with respect to the existence of a (purely radial) homothetic Killing vector field for spherically symmetric spacetimes implies the separability of the spacetime metric in terms of the co-moving coordinates (and vice versa) and that the metric is, uniquely, the one recently reported in (Class. Quantam Grav. 18: 2147–2162; 2001). This spacetime, in general, has non-vanishing energy flux and shear. An interesting feature of this spacetime, in contrast to other self-similar spherically symmetric spacetimes (not reducible to our form) is that it has an arbitrary radial distribution of matter.     

Complex spacetime tangent bundle

It is demonstrated that the spacetime tangent bundle, in the case of a Finsler spacetime, is complex, provided that the gauge curvature field vanishes. This is accomplished by determining the conditions for the vanishing of the Nijenhuis tensor in the anholonomic frame adapted to the spacetime connection.     

Discriminating the Weyl type in higher dimensions using scalar curvature invariants

We consider higher dimensional Lorentzian spacetimes which are currently of interest in theoretical physics. It is possible to algebraically classify any tensor in a Lorentzian spacetime of arbitrary dimensions using alignment theory. In the case of the Weyl tensor, and using bivector theory, the associated Weyl curvature operator will have a restricted eigenvector structure for algebraic types II and D, which leads to necessary conditions on the discriminants of the associated characteristic equation which can be manifestly expressed in terms of polynomial scalar curvature invariants. The use of such necessary conditions in terms of scalar curvature invariants will be of great utility in the study and classification of black hole solutions in more than four dimensions.