https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4769-x
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
General classification of charged test particle circular orbits in Reissner–Nordström spacetime
1
Institute of Physics, Faculty of Philosophy & Science, Silesian University in Opava, Bezručovo náměstí 13, 74601, Opava, Czech Republic
2
Dipartimento di Fisica, ICRA, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy
3
Icranet-Pescara, Piazzale della Repubblica 10, 65122, Pescara, Italy
4
Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70543, 04510, Mexico, DF, Mexico
5
Department of Theoretical and Nuclear Physics, Kazakh National University, 050040, Almaty, Kazakhstan
* e-mail: d.pugliese.physics@gmail.com
Received:
22
December
2016
Accepted:
20
March
2017
Published online:
31
March
2017
We investigate charged particles’ circular motion in the gravitational field of a charged mass distribution described by the Reissner–Nordström spacetime. We introduce a set of independent parameters completely characterizing the different spatial regions in which circular motion is allowed. We provide a most complete classification of circular orbits for different sets of particle and source charge-to-mass ratios. We study both black holes and naked singularities and show that the behavior of charged particles depend drastically on the type of source. Our analysis shows in an alternative manner that the behavior of circular orbits can in principle be used to distinguish between black holes and naked singularities. From this analysis, special limiting values for the dimensionless charge of black hole and naked singularity emerge, namely, Q/M 
1/2, 
and 
for the black hole case and Q/M 1, 
, 
, and finally 
for the naked singularity case. Similarly and surprisingly, analogous limits emerge for the orbiting particles charge-to-mass ratio 
, for positive charges 
, 
and 
. These limits play an important role in the study of the coupled electromagnetic and gravitational interactions, and the investigation of the role of the charge in the gravitational collapse of compact objects.
© The Author(s), 2017
