A four-force parallel to the trajectory of a massive particle can always be eliminated by going to an affine parametrization, but the affine parameter is different from the proper time. The main application is to cosmology, in which elements of the cosmic fluid are subject to a pressure gradient parallel to their four-velocities. Natural implementations of parallel four-forces occur when the particle mass changes and in scalar-tensor cosmology.
We show that any second order dynamic equation on a configuration space $X\to R$ of nonrelativistic mechanics can be seen as a geodesic equation with respect to some (nonlinear) connection on the tangent bundle $TX\to X$ of relativistic velocities. We compare relativistic and nonrelativistic geodesic equations, and study the Jacobi vector fields along nonrelativistic geodesics.
Geodesic orbit equations in the Schwarzschild geometry of general relativity reduce to ordinary conic sections of Newtonian mechanics and gravity for material particles in the non-relativistic limit. On the contrary, geodesic orbit equations for a proper spatial submanifold of Schwarzschild metric at any given coordinate-time correspond to an unphysical gravitational repulsion in the non-relativistic limit. This demonstrates at a basic level the centrality and critical role of relativistic time and its intimate pseudo-Riemannian connection with space. Correspondingly, a commonly popularized de…
In considering the mathematical problem of describing the geodesics on a torus or any other surface of revolution, there is a tremendous advantage in conceptual understanding that derives from taking the point of view of a physicist by interpreting parametrized geodesics as the paths traced out in time by the motion of a point in the surface, identifying the parameter with the time. Considering energy levels in an effective potential for the reduced motion then proves to be an extremely useful tool in studying the behavior and properties of the geodesics. The same approach can be easily tweake…
We study the gravitational behaviour of a spherically symmetric radiating star when the fluid particles are in geodesic motion. We transform the governing equation into a simpler form which allows for a general analytic treatment. We find that Bernoulli, Riccati and confluent hypergeometric equations are possible. These admit solutions in terms of elementary functions and special functions. Particular models contain the Minkowski spacetime and the Friedmann dust spacetime as limiting cases. Our infinite family of solutions contains specific models found previously. For a particular metric we b…
A theorem due to Bob Geroch and Pong Soo Jang ["Motion of a Body in General Relativity." Journal of Mathematical Physics 16(1), (1975)] provides a sense in which the geodesic principle has the status of a theorem in General Relativity (GR). I have recently shown that a similar theorem holds in the context of geometrized Newtonian gravitation (Newton-Cartan theory) [Weatherall, J. O. "The Motion of a Body in Newtonian Theories." Journal of Mathematical Physics 52(3), (2011)]. Here I compare the interpretations of these two theorems. I argue that despite some apparent differences between the the…
General Relativity (GR) is shown to be a complete theory with respect to the isochrony of the pendulum. This guarantees that time can be measured with a mechanical clock within the theory itself as a matter of principle. The proper and coordinate oscillation frequencies of a simple pendulum are computed as a function of 3 coordinate parameters: the distance of the fulcrum to the gravity source, its length and the Schwarzschild radius. Novel GR effects appear in the Schwarzschild coordinates as divergences, zeroes and other instabilities of the oscillation frequencies that are absent in Newtoni…
We extend our previous calculation of the quasi-local contribution to the self-force on a scalar particle to general (not necessarily geodesic) motion in a general spacetime. In addition to the general case and the case of a particle at rest in a stationary spacetime, we consider as examples a particle held at rest in Reissner-Nordstrom and Kerr-Newman space-times. This allows us to most easily analyse the effect of non-geodesic motion on our previous results and also allows for comparison to existing results for Schwarzschild spacetime.
We solve the geodesic deviation equations for the orbital motions in the Schwarzschild metric which are close to a circular orbit. It turns out that in this particular case the equations reduce to a linear system, which after diagonalization describes just a collection of harmonic oscillators, with two characteristic frequencies. The new geodesic obtained by adding this solution to the circular one, describes not only the linear approximation of Kepler's laws, but gives also the right value of the perihelion advance (in the limit of almost circular orbits). We derive also the equations for hig…
Stability criteria of nearly extreme black holes in the perturbations level is one of the interesting issues in gravitational systems. Considering the nearly extreme conformal-de Sitter black holes, in this paper, we obtain an exact relation for the quasinormal modes of scalar perturbations. As for stability criteria, we find a lower bound on the event horizon radius which is corresponding to an upper bound on the value of the quasinormal frequencies. In addition, we show that the asymptotic behavior of quasinormal modes gives highly damped modes which is important due to possible connection b…
We present a detailed analysis of the general exact solution of Einstein's equation corresponding to a static and plane symmetric distribution of matter with density proportional to pressure. We study the geodesics in it and we show that this simple spacetime exhibits very curious properties. In particular, it has a free of matter repelling singular boundary and all geodesics bounce off it.
The observer dependence of the quasi-local energy (QLE) and momentum in the Schwarzschild geometry is illustrated. Using the Brown-York prescription, the QLE for families of non-geodesic and geodesic observers penetrating the event horizon is obtained. An explicit shell-building process is presented and the binding energy is computed in terms of the QLE measured by a static observer field at a radius outside the horizon radius. The QLE for a radially geodesic observer field freely-falling from infinity is shown to vanish. Finally, a simple relation for the dynamics of the quasi-local momentum …
We consider a scalar charge travelling in a curved background spacetime. We calculate the quasi-local contribution to the scalar self-force experienced by such a particle following a geodesic in a general spacetime. We also show that if we assume a massless field and a vacuum background spacetime, the expression for the self-force simplifies significantly. We consider some specific cases whose gravitational analog are of immediate physical interest for the calculation of radiation reaction corrected orbits of binary black hole systems. These systems are expected to be detectable by the LISA sp…
Streamlines of a relativistic perfect isentropic fluid are geodesics of a Riemannian space whose metric is defined by enthalpy of the fluid. This fact simplifies the solution of some problems, as is also of interest from the point of view of fundamental physics.
We derive proper-time Lyapunov exponent $(λ_{p})$ and coordinate-time Lyapunov exponent $(λ_{c})$ for a regular Hayward class of black hole. The proper-time corresponds to $τ$ and the coordinate time corresponds to $t$. Where $t$ is measured by the asymptotic observers both for for Hayward black hole and for special case of Schwarzschild black hole. We compute their ratio as $\frac{λ_{p}}{λ_{c}} = \frac{(r_σ^{3} + 2 l^{2} m )}{\sqrt{(r_σ^{2} + 2 l^{2} m )^{3}- 3 m r_σ^{5}}}$ for time-like geodesics. In the limit of $l=0$ that means for Schwarzschild black hole this ratio reduces to $\frac{λ_{p…
Gravity gradiometry within the framework of the general theory of relativity involves the measurement of the elements of the relativistic tidal matrix, which is theoretically obtained via the projection of the spacetime curvature tensor upon the nonrotating orthonormal tetrad frame of a geodesic observer. The behavior of the measured components of the curvature tensor under Lorentz boosts is briefly described in connection with the existence of certain special tidal directions. Relativistic gravity gradiometry in the exterior gravitational field of a rotating mass is discussed and a gravitomag…
The timelike geodesic equations resulting from the Kerr gravitational metric element are derived and solved exactly including the contribution from the cosmological constant. The geodesic equations are derived, by solving the Hamilton-Jacobi partial differential equation by separation of variables. The solutions can be applied in the investigation of the motion of a test particle in the Kerr and Kerr-(anti) de Sitter gravitational fields. In particular, we apply the exact solutions of the timelike geodesics i) to the precise calculation of dragging (Lense-Thirring effect) of a satellite's sphe…
The sum of squared epicyclic frequencies of nearly circular motion ($ω_r^2+ω_θ^2$) in axially symmetric configurations of Newtonian gravity is known to depend both on the matter density and on the angular velocity profile of circular orbits. It was recently found that this sum goes to zero at the photon orbits of Schwarzschild and Kerr spacetimes. However, these are the only relativistic configurations for which such result exists in the literature. Here, we extend the above formalism in order to describe the analogous relation for geodesic motion in arbitrary static, axially symmetric, asympt…
A static and axisymmetric solution of the Einstein vacuum equations with a finite number of Relativistic Multipole Moments (RMM) is written in MSA coordinates up to certain order of approximation, and the structure of its metric components is explicitly shown. From the equation of equatorial geodesics we obtain the Binet equation for the orbits and it allows us to determine the gravitational potential that leads to the equivalent classical orbital equations of the perturbed Kepler problem. The relativistic corrections to Keplerian motion are provided by the different contributions of the RMM o…
An exact but simple general relativistic model for the gravitational field of active galactic nuclei is constructed, based on the superposition in Weyl coordinates of a black hole, a Chazy-Curzon disk and two rods, which represent matter jets. The influence of the rods on the matter properties of the disk and on its stability is examined. We find that in general they contribute to destabilize the disk. Also the oscillation frequencies for perturbed circular geodesics on the disk are computed, and some geodesic orbits for the superposed metric are numerically calculated.
We investigate insterstellar gas spheres by determining the metric functions, the material distribution, and the features of particle orbits in terms of stability and geodesics. An exact solution of the Einstein's equations for interstellar gas clouds is derived that is compatible with the results of recent astronomical measurements. The solution determines the distribution of pressure and density, and it is suitable to describe the energy, speed, trajectory, and further relevant physical features of the cloud's particles. We describe the spacetime inside the nebula and give the density profil…
It is well known that the classical gravitational two body problem can be transformed into a spherical harmonic oscillator by regularization. We find that a modification of the regularization transformation has a similar result to leading order in general relativity. In the resulting harmonic oscillator, the leading-order relativistic perturbation is formally a negative centrifugal force. The net centrifugal force changes sign at three Schwarzschild radii, which interestingly mimics the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) of the full Schwarzschild problem. Transforming the harmonic-oscillat…
The generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) corrected modified relativistic particle model has been derived in curved space-time. From this modified model, the equation of motion (EM) has been constructed relativistically in terms of the affine parameter ($λ$) or proper time ($τ$) and nonrelativistically in terms of coordinate time ($t$). In this context, the constraint analysis technique has been applied to get the EM. Interestingly, the EM obtained in both cases is the usual one. This result clearly indicates an important fact, that is, consistency of the equivalence principle in the GUP fra…
Future very-large-area X-ray instruments (for which the effective area is larger than $>3$m$^2$) will be able to measure the frequencies of quasi-periodic oscillations~(QPOs) observed in the X-ray flux from accreting compact objects with sub-percent precision. If correctly modeled, QPOs can provide a novel way to test the strong-field regime of gravity. By using the relativistic precession model and a modified version of the epicyclic resonance model, we develop a method to test general relativity against a generic class of theories with quadratic curvature corrections. With the instrumentatio…
We explore some of the gravitational features of a uniform ring both in the Newtonian potential theory and in General Relativity. We use a spacetime associated to a Weyl static solution of the vacuum Einstein's equations with ring like singularity. The Newtonian motion for a test particle in the gravitational field of the ring is studied and compared with the corresponding geodesic motion in the given spacetime. We have found a relativistic peculiar attraction: free falling particle geodesics are lead to the inner rim but never hit the ring.
We study further a general relativistic mechanism for the acquisition of tidal energy by free test particles near a gravitationally collapsed configuration. Specifically, we investigate the solutions of timelike geodesic equation in a Fermi normal coordinate system established about the world line of an accelerated observer that remains spatially at rest in the exterior Schwarzschild spacetime. Such static observers in effect define the rest frame of the collapsed source. The gain in tidal energy is due to local spacetime curvature. Previous work in this direction in connection with astrophysi…
The exact solution to the Einstein equations that represents a static axially symmetric source deformed by an internal quadrupole is considered. By using the Poincare section method we numerically study the geodesic motion of test particles. For the prolate quadrupolar deformations we found chaotic motions contrary to the oblate case where only regular motion is found. We also study the metric that represents a rotating black hole deformed by a quadrupolar term. This metric is obtained as a two soliton solution in the context of Belinsky--Zakharov inverse scattering method. The stability of ge…
Geodesic structure, eikonal quasinormal modes and thermodynamic properties of a Schwarzschild-de Sitter-like black hole with global monopole in Bumblebee gravity
The noncommutative spacetimes associated to the $κ$-Poincaré relativistic symmetries and their "non-relativistic" (Galilei) and "ultra-relativistic" (Carroll) limits are indistinguishable, since their coordinates satisfy the same algebra. In this work, we show that the three quantum kinematical models can be differentiated when looking at the associated spaces of time-like worldlines. Specifically, we construct the noncommutative spaces of time-like geodesics with $κ$-Galilei and $κ$-Carroll symmetries as contractions of the corresponding $κ$-Poincaré space and we show that these three spaces …
We systematically derive an action for a nonrelativistic spinning partile in flat background and discuss its canonical formulation in both Lagrangian and Hamiltonian approaches. This action is taken as the starting point for deriving the corresponding action in a curved background. It is achieved by following our recently developed technique of localising the flat space galilean symmetry \cite{BMM1, BMM3, BMM2}. The coupling of the spinning particle to a Newton-Cartan background is obtained naturally. The equation of motion is found to differ from the geodesic equation, in agreement with earli…
Based on recently reported results, we present arguments that sign changes in proper acceleration of test particles on the symmetry axis and close to the r=2M surface of quasi-spherical objects - related to the quadrupole moment of the source - might be at the origin of relativistic jets of quasars and micro-quasars.
We study the issue of length renormalization in the context of fully covariant gravity theories as well as non-relativistic ones such as Hořava-Lifshitz gravity. The difference of their symmetry groups implies a relation between the lengths of paths in spacetime in the two types of theory. Provided that certain asymptotic conditions hold, this relation allows us to transfer analytic criteria for the standard spacetime length to be finite to the Perelman length to be likewise finite, and therefore formulate conditions for geodesic incompleteness in partially covariant theories. We also discuss …
We use vielbein bundle's horizontal lift path integral formulation and gauge theory's holonomy map to compactly describe parallel transport and geodesic equations on a manifold. This is first applied to the geometry of general relativistic Schwarzschild as a review. The Newton-Cartan take of the Schwarzschild metric derived by previous literature is then adopted, and the analysis is repeated for both non-torsional and torsional geometry. Transport curves considered include a circular timeless loop, circular geodesic loop, radial geodesic loop, and a stationary loop. The findings on the three g…
In this paper we present the distinguished (d-) Riemannian geometry (in the sense of nonlinear connection, Cartan canonical linear connection, together with its d-torsions and d-curvatures) for a possible Lagrangian inspired by optics in non-uniform media. The corresponding equations of motion are also exposed, and some particular solutions are given. For instance, we obtain as geodesic trajectories some circular helices (depending on an angular velocity ω), certain circles situated in some planes (ones are parallel with xOy, and other ones are orthogonal on xOy), or some straight lines which …
During the last few decades, there has been a growing interest in exact solutions of Einstein equations describing razor-thin disks. Despite the progress in the area, the analytical study of geodesic motion crossing the disk plane in these systems is not yet so developed. In the present work, we propose a definite vertical stability criterion for circular equatorial timelike geodesics in static, axially symmetric thin disks, possibly surrounded by other structures preserving axial symmetry. It turns out that the strong energy condition for the disk stress-energy content is sufficient for verti…
