Twisting null geodesic congruences, scri, H-space and spin-angular momentum

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to return, with a new observation and rather unconventional point of view, to the study of asymptotically flat solutions of Einstein equations. The essential observation is that from a given asymptotically flat spacetime with a given Bondi shear, one can find (by integrating a partial differential equation) a class of asymptotically shear-free (but, in general, twisting) null geodesic congruences. The class is uniquely given up to the arbitrary choice of a complex analytic world line in a four-parameter complex space. Surprisingly, this parameter space turns out to be the H-space that is associated with the real physical spacetime under consideration. The main development in this work is the demonstration of how this complex world line can be made both unique and also given a physical meaning. More specifically, by forcing or requiring a certain term in the asymptotic Weyl tensor to vanish, the world line is uniquely determined and becomes (by several arguments) identified as the ‘complex centre of mass’. Roughly, its imaginary part becomes identified with the intrinsic spin-angular momentum while the real part yields the orbital angular momentum. One should think of this work as developing a generalization of the properties of the algebraically special spacetimes in the sense that the term that is forced here to vanish is automatically vanishing (among many other terms) for all the algebraically special metrics. This is demonstrated in the several given examples. It was, in fact, an understanding of the algebraically special metrics and their associated shear-free null congruence that led us to this construction of the asymptotically shear-free congruences and the unique complex world line. The Robinson–Trautman metrics and the Kerr and charged Kerr metrics with their properties are explicit examples of the construction given here.