Shear-free radiating collapse and conformal flatness

Abstract

Here we study some general properties of spherical shear-free collapse. Its general solution when imposing conformal flatness is reobtained [1,2] and matched to the outgoing Vaidya spacetime. We propose a simple model satisfying these conditions and study its physical consequences. Special attention deserve, the role played by relaxational processes and the conspicuous link betweeen dissipation and density inhomogeneity.

13 pages Latex. Some misprints in eqs.(17), (30) and (35) have been corrected