Electromagnetic fields with vanishing quantum corrections

We show that a large class of null electromagnetic fields are immune to any modifications of Maxwell's equations in the form of arbitrary powers and derivatives of the field strength. These are thus exact solutions to virtually any generalized classical electrodynamics containing both non-linear terms and higher derivatives, including, e.g., non-linear electrodynamics as well as QED- and string-motivated effective theories. This result holds not only in a flat or (anti-)de Sitter background, but also in a larger subset of Kundt spacetimes, which allow for the presence of aligned gravitational waves and pure radiation.Comment: 7 pages. v2: presentation of the type III conditions improved, discussion extended, new ref

Kerr-Schild spacetimes with (A)dS background

General properties of Kerr-Schild spacetimes with (A)dS background in arbitrary dimension are studied. It is shown that the geodetic Kerr-Schild vector k is a multiple WAND of the spacetime. Einstein Kerr-Schild spacetimes with non-expanding k are shown to be of Weyl type N, while the expanding spacetimes are of type II or D. It is shown that this class of spacetimes obeys the optical constraint. This allows us to solve Sachs equation, determine r-dependence of boost weight zero components of the Weyl tensor and discuss curvature singularities.Comment: 17 pages, minor change

Generalization of the Geroch-Held-Penrose formalism to higher dimensions

Geroch, Held and Penrose invented a formalism for studying spacetimes admitting one or two preferred null directions. This approach is very useful for studying algebraically special spacetimes and their perturbations. In the present paper, the formalism is generalized to higher-dimensional spacetimes. This new formalism leads to equations that are considerably simpler than those of the higher-dimensional Newman-Penrose formalism employed previously. The dynamics of p-form test fields is analyzed using the new formalism and some results concerning algebraically special p-form fields are proved.Comment: 24 page

On higher dimensional Einstein spacetimes with a warped extra dimension

We study a class of higher dimensional warped Einstein spacetimes with one extra dimension. These were originally identified by Brinkmann as those Einstein spacetimes that can be mapped conformally on other Einstein spacetimes, and have subsequently appeared in various contexts to describe, e.g., different braneworld models or warped black strings. After clarifying the relation between the general Brinkmann metric and other more specific coordinate systems, we analyze the algebraic type of the Weyl tensor of the solutions. In particular, we describe the relation between Weyl aligned null directions (WANDs) of the lower dimensional Einstein slices and of the full spacetime, which in some cases can be algebraically more special. Possible spacetime singularities introduced by the warp factor are determined via a study of scalar curvature invariants and of Weyl components measured by geodetic observers. Finally, we illustrate how Brinkmann's metric can be employed to generate new solutions by presenting the metric of spinning and accelerating black strings in five dimensional anti-de Sitter space.Comment: 14 pages, minor changes in the text, mainly in Section 2.