2005/11/30 by Cristiano Germani, Christos G. Tsagas
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.73.064010
published as Phys.Rev. D73 (2006) 064010 · 6 pages, RevTex; v2: physical interpretation of the results slightly changed, references added, version accepted in Phys. Rev. D (2006)
arxiv created 2006/02/25 · openalex publication_date 2006/03/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We investigate the gravitational implosion of magnetized matter by studying the inhomogeneous collapse of a weakly magnetized Tolman-Bondi spacetime. The role of the field is analyzed by looking at the convergence of neighboring particle world lines. In particular, we identify the magnetically related stresses in the Raychaudhuri equation and use the Tolman-Bondi metric to evaluate their impact on the collapsing dust. We find that, despite the low energy level of the field, the Lorentz force dominates the advanced stages of the collapse, leading to a strongly anisotropic contraction. In addition, of all the magnetic stresses, those that resist the collapse are found to grow faster.