Binding in charged spherically symmetric objects

Abstract

We consider the subject of self--binding in static, spherically symmetric objects consisting of a charged fluid. We have shown previously that in the case of a perfect fluid, only the localized part of the mass contributes to gravitational self--binding of such objects and that in the limiting case of objects comprised purely of electromagnetic mass, there is no gravitational binding. Here, we extend this result to the more general case of an anisotropic fluid. Our inspection of the Oppenheimer--Volkov equation allows tracking of both gravitational and non-gravitational contributions to binding of spherically symmetric objects and shows that those with pure electromagnetic mass cannot exist.