Geodesics for the NUT metric and gravitational monopoles

Journal Article · Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1989 · General Relativity and Gravitation; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00758986· OSTI ID:7243981

Zimmerman, R L; Shahir, B Y ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Oregon, Eugene (USA)

In order to provide insight about the physical interpretation of the NUT parameter, the authors solve the geodesic equations for the NUT metric. They show that the properties of NUT geodesics are similar to the properties of trajectories for charged particles orbiting about a magnetic monopole. In summary, they show that (1) the orbits lie on the surface of a cone, (2) the conserved total angular momentum is the sum of the orbital angular momentum plus the angular momentum due to the monopole field, (3) the monopole field angular momentum is independent of the separation between the source of the gravitational field and the test particle, and (4) the geodesics are almost spherically symmetric. The strong similarities between the NUT geodesics and the electromagnetic monopole suggest that the NUT metric is an exact solution for a gravitational magnetic monopole. However, the subtle difference of being only almost spherically symmetric implies that the analogy is not perfect. The almost spherically symmetric nature of the NUT geodesics suggest that the energy of the Dirac string makes a contribution to the solution. They also construct exact solutions for special orbits, discuss a twin paradox, and speculate about the Dirac quantization condition for a gravitational magnetic monopole.

• OSTI ID: 7243981
• Journal Information: General Relativity and Gravitation; (USA), Journal Name: General Relativity and Gravitation; (USA) Vol. 21:8; ISSN 0001-7701; ISSN GRGVA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ANGULAR MOMENTUM
CANONICAL TRANSFORMATIONS
CHARGED PARTICLES
CHARGED-PARTICLE TRANSPORT THEORY
CONSERVATION LAWS
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
EINSTEIN FIELD EQUATIONS
ELECTRIC CHARGES
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EQUATIONS
FIELD EQUATIONS
FIELD THEORIES
GENERAL RELATIVITY THEORY
GEODESICS
GRAVITATIONAL FIELDS
MAGNETIC MONOPOLES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
METRICS
MONOPOLES
ORBITS
PARTICLE MODELS
POSTULATED PARTICLES
QUANTIZATION
TENSORS
TRAJECTORIES
TRANSFORMATIONS
TRANSPORT THEORY
UNIFIED-FIELD THEORIES
VACUUM STATES
VECTORS