Publication date: Feb 1993
Abstract:
The radius of gyration is a familiar concept in Newtonian mechanics and
a suitably defined relativistic generalization of it turns out to be
very useful for analyzing rotational effects in strong gravitational
fields. The present paper contains a discussion of the properties of
this quantity and of its level surfaces (the von Zeipel cylinders) and
also of its connection with the effective potential for photon motion
and with ideas of centrifugal force. The direction of increase of the
radius of gyration gives a preferred determination of the local outward
direction relevant for the dynamical effects of rotation, but this
direction becomes misaligned with the global outward direction in
strong-field situations. This misalignment underlies some apparently
counterintuitive behavior of the centrifugal force in strong fields
which has recently been the subject of considerable interest.
Authors:
Abramowicz, M. A.; Miller, J. C.; Stuchlík, Z.;