KILLING VECTORS IN CONFORMALLY FLAT PERFECT FLUID SPACETIMES

The existence of Killing vectors in conformally flat perfect fluid spacetimes in general relativity is considered. In particular Killing vectors which are neither orthogonal nor parallel to the fluid velocity vector are considered and stationary fields in which the fluid velocity vector is not parallel to the timelike Killing vector field are shown to exist. This class of solutions is shown to include several stationary (but non-static) axisymmetric fields, thus providing counter-examples to a theorem of Collinson (1976). In the case when the fluid is non-expanding, the number of spacelike Killing vectors is shown to depend on the rank of four functions of time which appear in the metric. Some examples of stationary but non-static fields are presented in closed form.