Core-envelope and regular models in Einstein-Maxwell fields

Abstract

New classes of exact solutions which could serve as sources for the Reissner-Nordstrom metric representing the exterior gravitational field of an isolated charged sphere are derived. Firstly, we sacrifice the requirement that the stellar centre is free of a singularity and then obtain a core-envelope model. The charged fluid envelope is matched suitably to the neutral core and the vacuum exterior solution. Next we investigate models of charged stars that are regular at the stellar centre. The Einstein-Maxwell system of partial differential equations is reduced to the study of a single first-order differential equation in which two of the matter or geometrical variables must be specified at the outset. In each case mentioned above, new exact models are found by choosing functional forms for the electric field intensity and one of the gravitational potentials. A Riccati equation is then solved to obtain the remaining potential. The charged spherical shell model as well as the non-singular models are shown to display necessary qualitative features that are demanded for physical acceptability. It is shown that the regular model has a vanishing pressure-free hypersurface. The density and pressure profiles are positive and monotonically decreasing outwards from the centre of the sphere for a chosen set of parameters. The weak strong and dominant energy conditions are also satisfied. A drawback of the model is that the causality criterion is not satisfied within the fluid boundary.