arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L. Herrera.
Based on recently reported results, we present arguments that sign changes in proper acceleration of test particles on the symmetry axis and close to the r=2M surface of quasi-spherical objects - related to the quadrupole moment of the source - might be at the origin of relativistic jets of quasars and micro-quasars.
A study covering some aspects of the Einstein--Rosen metric is presented. The electric and magnetic parts of the Weyl tensor are calculated. It is shown that there are no purely magnetic E--R spacetimes, and also that a purely electric E--R spacetime is necessarily static. The geodesics equations are found and circular ones are analyzed in detail. The super--Poynting and the ``Lagrangian'' Poynting vectors are calculated and their expressions are found for two specific examples. It is shown that for a pulse--type solution, both expressions describe an inward radially directed flow of energy, far behind the wave front. The physical significance of such an effect is discussed.
The decreasing of the inertial mass density, established in the past for dissipative fluids, is found to be produced by the ``inertial'' term of the transport equation. Once the transport equation is coupled to the dynamical equation one finds that the contribution of the inertial term diminishes the effective inertial mass and the ``gravitational'' force term, by the same factor. An intuitive picture, and prospective applications of this result to astrophysical scenarios are discussed.
We calculate the vorticity of world--lines of observers at rest in a Bondi--Sachs frame, produced by gravitational radiation, in a general Sachs metric. We claim that such an effect is related to the super--Poynting vector, in a similar way as the existence of the electromagnetic Poynting vector is related to the vorticity in stationary electrovacum spacetimes.
We review the matching conditions for a collapsing anisotropic cylindrical perfect fluid, recently discussed in the literature (2005 {\it Class. Quantum Grav.} {\bf 22} 2407). It is shown that radial pressure vanishes on the surface of the cylinder, contrary to what is asserted in that reference. The origin of this discrepancy is to be found in a mistake made in one step of the calculations. Some comments about the relevance of this result in relation to the momentum of Einstein--Rosen waves are presented.
We present the whole set of equations with regularity and matching conditions required for the description of physically meaningful stationary cylindrically symmmetric distributions of matter, smoothly matched to Lewis vacuum spacetime. A specific example is given. The electric and magnetic parts of the Weyl tensor are calculated, and it is shown that purely electric solutions are necessarily static. Then, it is shown that no conformally flat stationary cylindrical fluid exits, satisfying regularity and matching conditions.
We present some analytical solutions to the Einstein equations, describing radiating collapsing spheres in the diffusion approximation. Solutions allow for modeling physical reasonable situations. The temperature is calculated for each solution, using a hyperbolic transport equation, which permits to exhibit the influence of relaxational effects on the dynamics of the system.
The electric and the magnetic part of the Weyl tensor, as well as the invariants obtained from them, are calculated for the Bondi vacuum metric. One of the invariants vanishes identically and the other only exhibits contributions from terms of the Weyl tensor containing the static part of the field. It is shown that the necessary and sufficient condition for the spacetime to be purely electric is that such spacetime be static. It is also shown that the vanishing of the electric part implies Minkowski spacetime. Unlike the electric part, the magnetic part does not contain contributions from the static field. Finally a speculation about the link between the vorticity of world lines of observers at rest in a Bondi frame, and gravitational radiation, is presented.
We present a general study about the relation between the vorticity tensor and the Poynting vector of the electromagnetic field for axially symmetric stationary electrovacuum metrics. The obtained expressions allow to understand the role of the Poynting vector in the dragging of inertial frames. The particular case of the rotating massive charged magnetic dipole is analyzed in detail. In addition, the electric and magnetic parts of the Weyl tensor are calculated and the link between the later and the vorticity is established. Then we show that, in the vacuum case, the necessary and sufficient condition for the vanishing of the magnetic part is that the spacetime be static.
We present a numerical model of a collapsing radiating sphere, whose boundary surface undergoes bouncing due to a decreasing of its inertial mass density (and, as expected from the equivalence principle, also of the ``gravitational'' force term) produced by the ``inertial'' term of the transport equation. This model exhibits for the first time the consequences of such an effect, and shows that under physically reasonable conditions this decreasing of the gravitational term in the dynamic equation may be large enough as to revert the collapse and produce a bouncing of the boundary surface of the sphere.
Here we study some general properties of spherical shear-free collapse. Its general solution when imposing conformal flatness is reobtained [1,2] and matched to the outgoing Vaidya spacetime. We propose a simple model satisfying these conditions and study its physical consequences. Special attention deserve, the role played by relaxational processes and the conspicuous link betweeen dissipation and density inhomogeneity.
We study the matching conditions for a collapsing anisotropic cylindrical perfect fluid, and we show that its radial pressure is non zero on the surface of the cylinder and proportional to the time dependent part of the field produced by the collapsing fluid. This result resembles the one that arises for the radiation - though non-gravitational - in the spherically symmetric collapsing dissipative fluid, in the diffusion approximation.
We present the whole set of equations with regularity and matching conditions required for the description of physically meaningful static cylindrically symmmetric distributions of matter, smoothly matched to Levi-Civita vacuum spacetime. It is shown that the conformally flat solution with equal principal stresses represents an incompressible fluid. It is also proved that any conformally flat cylindrically symmetric static source cannot be matched through Darmois conditions to the Levi-Civita spacetime. Further evidence is given that when the Newtonian mass per unit length reaches 1/2 the spacetime has plane symmetry.
The Misner and Sharp approach to the study of gravitational collapse is extended to the dissipative case in, both, the streaming out and the diffusion approximations. The role of different terms in the dynamical equation are analyzed in detail. The dynamical equation is then coupled to a causal transport equation in the context of Israel--Stewart theory. The decreasing of the inertial mass density of the fluid, by a factor which depends on its internal thermodynamics state, is reobtained, at any time scale. In accordance with the equivalence principle, the same decreasing factor is obtained for the gravitational force term. Prospective applications of this result to some astrophysical scenarios are discussed.
We present a physically reasonable source for an static, axially--symmetric solution to the Einstein equations. Arguments are provided, supporting our belief that the exterior space--time produced by such source, describing a quadrupole correction to the Schwarzschild metric, is particularly suitable (among known solutions of the Weyl family) for discussing the properties of quasi--spherical gravitational fields.
A new, globally regular model describing a static, non spherical gravitating object in General Relativity is presented. The model is composed by a vacuum Weyl--Levi-Civita special field - the so called gamma metric - generated by a regular static distribution of mass-energy. Standard requirements of physical reasonableness such as, energy, matching and regularity conditions are satisfied. The model is used as a toy in investigating various issues related to the directional behavior of naked singularities in static spacetimes and the blackhole (Schwarschild) limit.
Geodesics are studied in one of the Weyl metrics, referred to as the M--Q solution. First, arguments are provided, supporting our belief that this space--time is the more suitable (among the known solutions of the Weyl family) for discussing the properties of strong quasi--spherical gravitational fields. Then, the behaviour of geodesics is compared with the spherically symmetric situation, bringing out the sensitivity of the trajectories to deviations from spherical symmetry. Particular attention deserves the change of sign in proper radial acceleration of test particles moving radially along symmetry axis, close to the $r=2M$ surface, and related to the quadrupole moment of the source.
The full set of equations governing the evolution of self--gravitating spherically symmetric dissipative fluids with anisotropic stresses is deployed and used to carry out a general study on the behaviour of such systems, in the context of general relativity. Emphasis is given to the link between the Weyl tensor, the shear tensor, the anisotropy of the pressure and the density inhomogeneity. In particular we provide the general, necessary and sufficient, condition for the vanishing of the spatial gradients of energy density, which in turn suggests a possible definition of a gravitational arrow of time. Some solutions are also exhibited to illustrate the discussion.