Ideal gas sources for the Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi metrics

Abstract

New exact solutions emerge by replacing the dust source of the Lem\^aitre-Tolman-Bondi metrics with a viscous fluid satisfying the monatomic gas equation of state. The solutions have a consistent thermodynamical interpretation. The most general transport equation of Extended Irreversible Thermodynamics is satisfied, with phenomenological coefficients bearing a close resemblance to those characterizing a non relativistic Maxwell-Bolzmann gas.Comment: 7 pages, Plain TeX with IOP macros, important corrections to previous version, 3 figures (to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravity, June 1998