Photon rockets in the (anti-)de Sitter universe

Abstract

A class of exact solutions to Einstein's equations is presented, which describes accelerating photon rockets in the de Sitter and anti-de Sitter universes. These are particular members of the Robinson-Trautman family of axially symmetric spacetimes with pure radiation. In particular, generalizations of (type D) Kinnersley's rockets and (type II) Bonnor's rockets to the case of a nonvanishing cosmological constant are given. Some of the main physical properties of these solutions are investigated, and their relation to the C-metric solution which describes uniformly accelerated black holes is also given.