Godel-type metrics are introduced and used in producing charged dust
solutions in various dimensions. The key ingredient is a (D-1)-dimensional
Riemannian geometry which is then employed in constructing solutions to the
Einstein-Maxwell field equations with a dust distribution in D dimensions. The
only essential field equation in the procedure turns out to be the source-free
Maxwell's equation in the relevant background. Similarly the geodesics of this
type of metric are described by the Lorentz force equation for a charged
particle in the lower dimensional geometry. It is explicitly shown with several
examples that Godel-type metrics can be used in obtaining exact solutions to
various supergravity theories and in constructing spacetimes that contain both
closed timelike and closed null curves and that contain neither of these. Among
the solutions that can be established using non-flat backgrounds, such as the
Tangherlini metrics in (D-1)-dimensions, there exists a class which can be
interpreted as describing black-hole-type objects in a Godel-like universe.Comment: REVTeX4, 19 pp., no figures, improved and shortened version, note the
slight change in the title [accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum
Gravity
