Conformal diagrams for the gravitational collapse of a spherically symmetric dust cloud

Abstract

We present an algorithm for the construction of conformal coordinates in the interior of a spherically symmetric, collapsing matter cloud in general relativity. This algorithm is based on the numerical integration of radial null geodesics. As an application we generate conformal diagrams for collapsing spherical dust clouds and analyze the causal structure of the resulting spacetimes. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.