Time-Varying Lense-Thirring System

TL;DR

This paper extends the Lense-Thirring effect analysis to nonstationary scenarios where the source's angular momentum varies linearly over time, examining the resulting orbital instabilities.

Contribution

It introduces a linear perturbation approach for nonstationary gravitomagnetic fields, analyzing the impact on test particle orbits.

Findings

Identification of orbit instability due to time-varying gravitomagnetic field

Extension of Lense-Thirring perturbation theory to nonstationary cases

Insights into the dynamics of test masses around evolving rotating sources

Abstract

We consider bound geodesic orbits of test masses in the exterior gravitational field of a rotating astronomical source whose proper angular momentum varies linearly with time. The linear perturbation approach of Lense and Thirring is herein extended to the nonstationary case. In particular, we investigate the instability of Lense-Thirring precessing orbits due to the slow temporal variation of the gravitomagnetic field of the source.