Spacetimes with continuous linear isotropies III: null rotations

Abstract

It is shown that in many cases local null rotation invariance of the curvature and its first derivatives is sufficient to ensure there is an isometry group G with dimension at least 3 acting on (a neighbourhood of) the spacetime and containing a null rotation isotropy. Invariance of the second derivatives is additionally required to ensure this conclusion in Petrov type N Einstein spacetimes, spacetimes containing "pure radiation" (a Ricci tensor of Segre type [(11,2)]), and conformally flat spacetimes with a Ricci tensor of Segre type [1(11,1)] (a "tachyon fluid").