On the algebraic classification of spacetimes

The class of Petrov type I curvature tensors is further divided into those for which the span of the set of distinct principal null directions has dimension four (maximally spanning type I) or dimension three (nonmaximally spanning type I). Explicit examples are provided for both vacuum and nonvacuum spacetimes.

In current paper we refer to the geometrical classification of the Einstein equations which has been developed by one of the authors of this paper. This classification was based on the classical theory for decomposition of the tensor product of representations into irreducible components, which is studied in the elementary representation theory for orthogonal groups. We return to this result for more detailed investigation of classes of the Einstein equations.

We present a convenient method of algebraic classification of 2+1 spacetimes into the types I, II, D, III, N and O, without using any field equations. It is based on the 2+1 analogue of the Newman-Penrose curvature scalars $\Psi_A$, which are specific projections of the Cotton tensor onto a suitable null triad. The algebraic types are then simply determined by the gradual vanishing of such Cotton scalars, starting with those of the highest boost weight. This classification is...

This is an article contributed to the Brill Festschrift, in honor of the 60th birthday of Prof. D.R. Brill, which will appear in the Vol.2 of the Proceedings of the International Symposia on Directions in General Relativity. In this article we present the (1+1)-dimensional method for studying general relativity of 4-dimensions. We first discuss the general formalism, and subsequently draw attention to the algebraically special class of space-times, following the Petrov classi...

The traceless Ricci tensor $C_{ab}$ in 4-dimensional pseudo-Riemannian spaces equipped with the metric of the neutral signature is analyzed. Its algebraic classification is given. This classification uses the properties of $C_{ab}$ treated as a matrix. The Petrov-Penrose types of Pleba\'nski spinors associated with the traceless Ricci tensor are given. Finally, the classification is compared with a similar classification in the complex case.

We give a geometric classification of 4-dimensional superalgebras over an algebraic closed field.

The Bel-Robinson tensor is analyzed as a linear map on the space of the traceless symmetric tensors. This study leads to an algebraic classification that refines the usual Petrov-Bel classification of the Weyl tensor. The new classes correspond to degenerate type I space-times which have already been introduced in literature from another point of view. The Petrov-Bel types and the additional ones are intrinsically characterized in terms of the sole Bel-Robinson tensor, and an...

A classification of 2-dimensional surfaces imbedded in spacetime is presented, according to the algebraic properties of their shape tensor. The classification has five levels, and provides among other things a refinement of the concepts of trapped, umbilical and extremal surfaces, which split into several different classes. The classification raises new important questions and opens many possible new lines of research. These, together with some applications and examples, are ...

Using extensions of the Newman-Penrose and Geroch-Held-Penrose formalisms to five dimensions, we invariantly classify all Petrov type $D$ vacuum solutions for which the Riemann tensor is isotropic in a plane orthogonal to a pair of Weyl alligned null directions

Taking wedge products of the $p$ distinct principal null directions associated with the eigen-bivectors of the Weyl tensor associated with the Petrov classification, when linearly independent, one is able to express them in terms of the eigenvalues governing this decomposition. We study here algebraic and differential properties of such $p$-forms by completing previous geometrical results concerning type I spacetimes and extending that analysis to algebraically special spacet...