https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-026-15387-8
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
The impact of shear on complexity and Weyl stresses during dissipative collapse
1
Department of Physics, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa
2
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa
a
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Received:
28
December
2025
Accepted:
29
January
2026
Published online:
25
February
2026
Abstract
In this work we highlight the impact of shear on Weyl stresses and complexity within a collapsing stellar core which dissipates heat to the exterior spacetime. We adopt a radiating stellar model first presented by Thirukkanesh et al. (J Math Phys. 53:032506, 2012) which has many salient features including a means of switching off the shear. We demonstrate for the first time the impact of shear on the complexity and its components in a radiating star. We find that for early times, as the fluid loses hydrostatic equilibrium, the evolution of the complexity factor, both at the stellar center and boundary are indistinguishable in the shear-free and shearing cases. For late times, the complexity in the shear-free and shearing regimes differ significantly with shear-free collapse dominating its shearing counterpart. Our investigation into the evolution of the Weyl stresses highlight the connection between the Weyl tensor components and the contributions to the overall complexity arising from pressure anisotropy, density inhomogeneities and heat dissipation. We believe that this is the first exposition which highlights the influence of shear on stellar complexity during dissipative gravitational collapse.
© The Author(s) 2026
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