Kodama time: Geometrically preferred foliations of spherically symmetric spacetimes

In a general time-dependent (3+1) -dimensional spherically symmetric spacetime, the so-called Kodama vector is a naturally defined geometric quantity that is timelike outside the evolving horizon and so defines a preferred class of fiducial observers. However the Kodama vector does not by itself define any preferred notion of time. We first extract as much information as possible by invoking the ``warped product'' structure of spherically symmetric spacetime to study the Kodama vector, and the associated Kodama energy flux, in a coordinate-independent manner. Using this formalism we construct a general class of conservation laws, generalizing Kodama's energy flux. We then demonstrate that a preferred time coordinate---which we shall call Kodama time---can be introduced by taking the additional step of applying the Clebsch decomposition theorem to the Kodama vector. We thus construct a geometrically preferred coordinate system for any time-dependent spherically symmetric spacetime, and explore its properties. We study the geometrically preferred fiducial observers, and demonstrate that it is possible to define and calculate a generalized notion of surface gravity that is valid throughout the entire evolving spacetime. Furthermore, by building and suitably normalizing a set of radial null geodesics, we can show that this generalized surface gravity passes several consistency tests and has a physically appropriate static limit.