Conformally flat metric Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-11-05
A conformally flat metric is locally , where is a smooth conformal factor and is a flat metric tensor. Its domain is a conformally flat manifold. The conformal factor preserves null cones and unparametrized null geodesics, but can change curvature.[ref] For example, has Ricci scalar in the usual general relativity curvature convention, so conformal flatness need not mean flatness.