In metric theories of gravitation, particularly general relativity, a static spherically symmetric perfect fluid solution (a term which is often abbreviated as ssspf) is a spacetime equipped with suitable tensor fields which models a static round ball of a fluid with isotropic pressure.
In general relativity, a model of an isolated star (or other fluid ball) generally consists of a fluid-filled interior region, which is technically a perfect fluid solution of the Einstein field equation, and an exterior region, which is an asymptotically flat vacuum solution.
To anticipate, the figure at right depicts (by means of an embedding diagram) the spatial geometry of a simple example of a stellar model in general relativity.
The euclidean space in which this two-dimensional Riemannian manifold (standing in for a three-dimensional Riemannian manifold) is embedded has no physical significance, it is merely a visual aid to help convey a quick impression of the kind of geometrical features we will encounter.
We list here a few milestones in the history of exact ssspf solutions in general relativity: