Eur. Phys. J. C (2015) 75: 234
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-015-3455-0

Regular Article - Theoretical Physics

The ergoregion in the Kerr spacetime: properties of the equatorial circular motion

¹ Faculty of Philosophy and Science, Institute of Physics, Silesian University in Opava, Bezručovo náměstí 13, 74601, Opava, Czech Republic
² School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, UK
³ Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70543, 04510, México, DF, Mexico
⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Roma, Italy

^* e-mail: d.pugliese.physics@gmail.com

Received: 24 March 2015
Accepted: 12 May 2015
Published online: 29 May 2015

Abstract

We investigate in detail the circular motion of test particles in the equatorial plane of the ergoregion in the Kerr spacetime. We consider all the regions where circular motion is allowed, and we analyze the stability properties and the energy and angular momentum of the test particles. We show that the structure of the stability regions has definite features that make it possible to distinguish between black holes and naked singularities. The naked singularity case presents a very structured non-connected set of regions of orbital stability, where the presence of counterrotating particles and zero angular momentum particles for a specific class of naked singularities is interpreted as due to the presence of a repulsive field generated by the central source of gravity. In particular, we analyze the effects of the dynamical structure of the ergoregion (the union of the orbital regions for different attractor spins) on the behavior of accretion disks around the central source. The properties of the circular motion turn out to be so distinctive that they allow for the introduction of a complete classification of Kerr spacetimes, each class of which is characterized by different physical effects that could be of especial relevance in observational astrophysics. We also identify some special black-hole spacetimes where these effects could be relevant.