Non conducting spherically symmetric fluids

Abstract

A class of spherically symmetric spacetimes invariantly defined by a zero flux condition is examined first from a purely geometrical point of view and then physically by way of Einstein's equations for a general fluid decomposition of the energy-momentum tensor. The approach, which allows a formal inversion of Einstein's equations, explains, for example, why spherically symmetric perfect fluids with spatially homogeneous energy density must be shearfree.