A simple property of the Weyl tensor for a shear, vorticity and acceleration-free velocity field

We prove that, in a space-time of dimension n > 3 with a velocity field that is shear-free, vorticity-free and acceleration-free, the covariant divergence of the Weyl tensor is zero if and only if the contraction of the Weyl tensor with the velocity is zero. This extends a property found in generalised Robertson–Walker spacetimes, where the velocity is also eigenvector of the Ricci tensor. Despite the simplicity of the statement, the proof is involved. As a product of the same calculation, we introduce a curvature tensor with an interesting recurrence property.