Spherically Symmetric Spacetimes

Notes for GR-I and GR-II - CCD

We wish to develop the line-element, and the corresponding metric tensor, for a spherically symmetric spacetime. We choose coordinates (x0 , x1 , x2 , x3 ) = (T, R, , ) where T is a time-like coordinate and R, , and are space-like coordinates. and are the usual spherical polar coordinates describing the unit 2-sphere, which has line-element: d2 = d2 + sin2 d2 (1)

We can construct the line-element of the 3-space foliated by nested concentric 2-spheres to obtain: 2=g ds 11 (T, R) dR2 + f 2 (T, R) d2 (2) where g with , (1, 2, 3) is the 3-metric corresponding to the line-element for the 3-space, and f (T, R) is the function describing the radii of successive concentric spheres. Spherical symmetry requires that there be no cross terms involving and . To extend the line-element to the 4-dimensional spacetime, we augment the 3-space line-element by the most general terms involving the T coordinate to obtain: ds2 = g00 dT 2 + 2g01 dT dR + g11 dR2 f 2 d2 (3)

where g11 , f , g01 , and g00 are functions of T and R, and g 11 = g11 . gab is the 4-metric, and g = g for , (1, 2, 3). Similar to the case for the line-element for the 3-space, there can be no cross terms involving and with T or R, for these would establish special directions. The factor of 2 in the g01 term arises from the symmetry of the dT dR term. It is useful to dene a new radial coordinate r = f (T, R), which we shall call the areal radial coordinate since the sphere with radial coordinate r will have surface area 4r2 . Changing coordinates from (T, R, , ) to (T, r, , ), and noting that r = f (T, R) implies that dr = f|R dR + f|T dT , we can rewrite the line-element in the form: ds2 = b2 dT 2 + 2a b dT dr h2 dr2 r2 d2 by suitably dening h, a, and b, all functions of T and r.

(4)

c Charles C. Dyer

To eliminate the cross term in dT dr, we try to complete the square of the terms: b2 dT 2 + 2a b dT dr. To this end, we introduce a new time-like coordinate, t, dened by the relation: e/2 dt = b dT + a dr (6) (5)

where is a function of (T, r), or equivalently of (t, r), and e/2 is the integrating factor that makes this relation possible. Squaring both sides, we have: b2 dT 2 + 2a b dT dr = e dt2 a2 dr2 We then have the line-element: ds2 = e (t,r) dt2 e(t,r) dr2 r2 d2 (8) (7)

where and are both functions of t and r, and incorporates the old functions a and h. We have developed the line element for a general spherically symmetric spacetime, and reduced it to what appears to be the simplest form by exploiting our freedom to choose coordinates appropriately. This has resulted in signicant specialization of our coordinates, but we will nd that in some situations, it is benecial to specialize our coordinates in other ways, largely dictated by the physical eects under consideration.