Classification of Spherically Symmetric Static Spacetimes According to Their Matter Collineations

The spherically symmetric static spacetimes are classified according to their matter collineations. These are investigated when the energy-momentum tensor is degenerate and also when it is non-degenerate. We have found a case where the energy-momentum tensor is degenerate but the group of matter collineations is finite. For the non-degenerate case, we obtain either four, five, six or ten independent matter collineations in which four are isometries and the rest are proper. We conclude that the matter collineations coincide with the Ricci collineations but the constraint equations are different which on solving can provide physically interesting cosmological solutions.