Ultrastatic spacetimes

Abstract

Several calculations in conformally static spacetimes rely on the introduction of an ultrastatic background. I describe the general properties of ultrastatic spacetimes, and then focus on the problem of whether a given spacetime can be ultrastatic, or conformally ultrastatic, in more than one way. I show that the first possibility arises iff the spacetime is a product containing a Minkowskian factor, and that the second arises iff the spatial sections are conformal to a product space.