Conformastatic spacetimes refer to a special class of static solutions to Einstein's equation in general relativity.
The line element for the conformastatic class of solutions in Weyl's canonical coordinates reads[1][2][3][4][5][6]
( ρ , ϕ , z )
as a solution to the field equation
Eq(1) has only one metric function
, Eq(1) would yields a specific conformastatic spacetime.
In consistency with the conformastatic geometry Eq(1), the electrostatic field would arise from an electrostatic potential
which would yield the electromagnetic field tensor
{\displaystyle (5)\qquad T_{ab}^{(EM)}={\frac {1}{4\pi }}{\Big (}F_{ac}F_{b}^{\;\;c}-{\frac {1}{4}}g_{ab}F_{cd}F^{cd}{\Big )}\;.}
Plug Eq(1) and Eqs(3)(4)(5) into "trace-free" (R=0) Einstein's field equation, and one could obtain the reduced field equations for the metric function
are respectively the generic Laplace and gradient operators.
run freely over the coordinates
The extremal Reissner–Nordström spacetime is a typical conformastatic solution.
In this case, the metric function is identified as[4][5]
which put Eq(1) into the concrete form
) cos θ
) sin θ
one obtains the usual form of the line element of extremal Reissner–Nordström solution,
Some conformastatic solutions have been adopted to describe charged dust disks.
[3] Many solutions, such as the extremal Reissner–Nordström solution discussed above, can be treated as either a conformastatic metric or Weyl metric, so it would be helpful to make a comparison between them.
The Weyl spacetimes refer to the static, axisymmetric class of solutions to Einstein's equation, whose line element takes the following form (still in Weyl's canonical coordinates):
2 ψ ( ρ , z )
− 2 ψ ( ρ , z )
Hence, a Weyl solution become conformastatic if the metric function
γ ( ρ , z )
vanishes, and the other metric function
drops the axial symmetry:
The Weyl electrovac field equations would reduce to the following ones with
are respectively the reduced cylindrically symmetric Laplace and gradient operators.
It is also noticeable that, Eqs(14) for Weyl are consistent but not identical with the conformastatic Eqs(6)(7) above.