Hydrostatic Equilibrium and Gravitational Collapse of Relativistic Charged Fluid Balls

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Abstract
We obtain the metric corresponding to an arbitrary spherically symmetric distribution of charged perfect fluid without restricting consideration to the static case, and we show that it joins onto the standard Reissner-Nordström exterior solution of Einstein's equations. We also generalize the Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations of hydrostatic equilibrium to the charged case, and we discuss their applicability. Using our formalism, we then rederive a formula of Christodoulou which splits the mass of a charged black hole into an irreducible part and a reducible electrical part. Finally, we derive the equations for the gravitational collapse of a charged fluid ball, and we draw some general conclusions from them.