Higher dimensional Kerr-Schild spacetimes

dc.creatorOrtaggio, Marcello
dc.creatorPravda, Vojtech
dc.creatorPravdova, Alena
dc.date2008-08-15
dc.date2009-01-12
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T12:27:54Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T12:27:54Z
dc.descriptionWe investigate general properties of Kerr-Schild (KS) metrics in n>4 spacetime dimensions. First, we show that the Weyl tensor is of type II or more special if the null KS vector k is geodetic (or, equivalently, if T_{ab}k^ak^b=0). We subsequently specialize to vacuum KS solutions, which naturally split into two families of non-expanding and expanding metrics. After demonstrating that non-expanding solutions are equivalent to the known class of vacuum Kundt solutions of type N, we analyze expanding solutions in detail. We show that they can only be of the type II or D, and we characterize optical properties of the multiple Weyl aligned null direction (WAND) k. In general, k has caustics corresponding to curvature singularities. In addition, it is generically shearing. Nevertheless, we arrive at a possible "weak" n>4 extension of the Goldberg-Sachs theorem, limited to the KS class, which matches previous conclusions for general type III/N solutions. In passing, properties of Myers-Perry black holes and black rings related to our results are also briefly discussed.
dc.description33 pages. v2: minor changes, new references
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0808.2165
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0808.2165
dc.identifierClass.Quant.Grav.26:025008,2009
dc.identifierdoi:10.1088/0264-9381/26/2/025008
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/215367
dc.subjectGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
dc.subjectHigh Energy Physics - Theory
dc.titleHigher dimensional Kerr-Schild spacetimes
dc.typetext

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