  We consider some classes of solutions of the static, spherically symmetric
gravitational field equations in the vacuum in the brane world scenario, in
which our Universe is a three-brane embedded in a higher dimensional
space-time. The vacuum field equations on the brane are reduced to a system of
two ordinary differential equations, which describe all the geometric
properties of the vacuum as functions of the dark pressure and dark radiation
terms (the projections of the Weyl curvature of the bulk, generating non-local
brane stresses). Several classes of exact solutions of the vacuum gravitational
field equations on the brane are derived. In the particular case of a vanishing
dark pressure the integration of the field equations can be reduced to the
integration of an Abel type equation. A perturbative procedure, based on the
iterative solution of an integral equation, is also developed for this case.
Brane vacuums with particular symmetries are investigated by using Lie group
techniques. In the case of a static vacuum brane admitting a one-parameter
group of conformal motions the exact solution of the field equations can be
found, with the functional form of the dark radiation and pressure terms
uniquely fixed by the symmetry. The requirement of the invariance of the field
equations with respect to the quasi-homologous group of transformations also
imposes a unique, linear proportionality relation between the dark energy and
dark pressure. A homology theorem for the static, spherically symmetric
gravitational field equations in the vacuum on the brane is also proven.
