Birkhoff's theorem
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Birkhoff's theorem
[′bərk‚hȯfs ‚thir·əm] (relativity)
A theorem which states that if a space-time containing matter or energy satisfies Einstein's equations of general relativity and is centrally symmetric, then it is necessarily static and under a coordinate transformation it becomes identical to the Schwarzschild solution.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
References in periodicals archive
(According to Birkhoff's theorem, this solution is also valid for any spherically symmetric body at a distance larger than its radius [2].)
According to Birkhoff's theorem, outside the radius R of the collapsing body the space-time geometry will be exactly Schwarzschild-like, so that [phi] = 0 for r > R.
Birkhoff's theorem [1] assures us that for any non-rotating spherically symmetric distribution of matter, the gravitational effect on any test mass is solely due to whatever mass lies closer to the center of symmetry.
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