Optical geometries
Abstract
We study the notion of optical geometry, defined to be a Lorentzian manifold equipped with a null line distribution, from the perspective of intrinsic torsion. This is an instance of a non-integrable version of holonomy reduction in Lorentzian geometry. These generate congruences of null curves, which play an important r\ole in general relativity. Conformal properties of these are investigated. We also extend this concept to generalised optical geometries as introduced by Robinson and Trautman.
0