The stationary solutions given by Amenedo and Manko generated from known solutions of Laplace’s equation as seed have been generalised to include the electromagnetic field. Further, the exterior solution of an axially symmetric rotating body with higher multipole moments and a solution corresponding to a Kerr object embedded in a gravitational field are given. We also give a method for constructing stationary vacuum solutions from static magnetovac solutions and vice versa and discuss a specific application of this method.

The structure of the stationary metrics [1], generated from Laplace’s solutions as seed, is investigated. The expressions for the equatorial and polar circumferences, the surface area of the event horizon, location of singular points and the Gaussian curvatures of the metrics [1] are derived and their variations with the field parameter α₀ are studied. The multipole moments are calculated with the help of coordinate invariant Geroch-Hansen technique. These investigations expose some interesting properties of the metrics, some of which are known in the literature and some deserve a new interpretation.

In the present paper, a relationship between the method of Gutsunaev-Manko and the soliton technique (for two-soliton solutions) of Belinskii-Zakharov, for generating solutions of axially symmetric stationary space-times in general relativity is discussed.

One-soliton solutions of axially symmetric vacuum Einstein field equations are presented in this paper. Two sets of Laplace’s solutions are used as seed and it is shown that the derived solutions reduce to some already known solutions when the constants are properly adjusted. An analysis of the solutions in terms of the Ernst potential is also presented. It is found that the solutions do not reduce to the Euclidean form at spatial infinity. However, in the static limit, Weyl solutions are obtained for half integral ∂-values.