Particle Motion in the Rotating Black Ring Metric

Abstract

In this paper, the equations of motion for geodesics in the neutral rotating Black Ring metric are derived and the separability of these equations is considered. The bulk of the paper is concerned with sets of solutions where the geodesic equations can be examined analytically - specifically geodesics confined to the axis of rotation, geodesics restricted to the equatorial plane, and geodesics that circle through the centre of the ring. The geodesics on the rotational axis behave like a particle in a potential well, while the geodesics confined to the equatorial plane mimic those of the Schwarzschild metric. It is shown that it is impossible to have circular orbits that pass through the ring, but some numerical results are presented which suggest that it is possible to have bound orbits that circle through the ring.