Relativistic models for anisotropic compact stars: A review

The Einstein–Maxwell (or Einstein) system of field equations plays a substantial role in the modeling of compact stars. Although due to its non-linearity getting an exact solution for the system of field equations is a difficult task, the solutions of field equations have a long and rich history. It took a year for Karl Schwarzschild to obtain the first exact solution of Einstein’s field equations since general theory of relativity was published. The number of viable solutions has been growing since then. Many authors have adopted several methods to obtain the solution. Different models have been constructed for a variety of applications. To produce feasible models of compact stars, a considerable amount of effort has been applied in gaining an understanding of the properties of anisotropic matter. Theoretical study indicates that pressure within compact stars with extreme internal density and strong gravity is mostly anisotropic. Anisotropy was found sufficient for the study of compact stars with the dense nuclear matter. It is claimed that it is important to consider the pressure experienced to be anisotropic whenever relativistic fluids are involved. In this review article, we have discussed different ways of generating a static spherically symmetric anisotropic fluid model. The purpose of the article is to present a simple classification scheme for static and spherically symmetric anisotropic fluid solutions. The known solutions are reviewed and compartmentalized as per the proposed scheme so that we can illustrate general ideas about these solutions without being exhaustive.