Higher dimensional spacetimes with a geodesic, shearfree, twistfree and expanding null congruence

dc.creatorOrtaggio, Marcello
dc.date2007-01-05
dc.date2007-08-30
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T08:26:29Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T08:26:29Z
dc.descriptionWe present the complete family of higher dimensional spacetimes that admit a geodesic, shearfree, twistfree and expanding null congruence, thus extending the well-known D=4 class of Robinson-Trautman solutions. Einstein's equations are solved for empty space with an arbitrary cosmological constant and for aligned pure radiation. Main differences with respect to the D=4 case (such as the absence of type III/N solutions, related to ``violations'' of the Goldberg-Sachs theorem in D>4) are pointed out, also in connection with other recent works. A formal analogy with electromagnetic fields is briefly discussed in an appendix, where we demonstrate that multiple principal null directions of null Maxwell fields are necessarily geodesic, and that in D>4 they are also shearing if expanding.
dc.description1+12 pages. Proceedings of the XVII SIGRAV Conference, Turin, September 4--7, 2006. v2: minor changes
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0701036
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0701036
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/136956
dc.subjectGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
dc.subjectHigh Energy Physics - Theory
dc.titleHigher dimensional spacetimes with a geodesic, shearfree, twistfree and expanding null congruence
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