From Kerr to Heisenberg

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the Kerr-Newman spacetime's gravitomagnetic effects, specifically the Sagnac effect, revealing charge and gravitational constant independence, and links the spin of a Fermion to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.

Contribution

It explicitly derives the asymmetry in light travel times in Kerr-Newman spacetime and connects gravitomagnetic effects to quantum uncertainty principles.

Findings

The asymmetry remains finite as the circle shrinks to the origin.

The asymmetry is independent of charge and Newton's constant.

A connection between Fermion spin and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle is proposed.

Abstract

In this paper we consider the space-time of a charged mass endowed with an angular momentum. The geometry is described by the exact Kerr-Newman solution of the Einstein equations. The peculiar symmetry, though exact, is usually described in terms of the gravito-magnetic field originated by the angular momentum of the source. A typical product of this geometry is represented by the generalized Sagnac effect. We write down the explicit form for the right/left asymmetry of the times of flight of two counter-rotating light beams along a circular trajectory. Letting the circle shrink to the origin the asymmetry stays finite. Furthermore it becomes independent both from the charge of the source (then its electromagnetic field) and from Newton's constant: it is then associated only to the symmetry produced by the gravitomagnetic field. When introducing, for the source, the spin of a Fermion, the lowest limit of the Heisenberg uncertainty formula for energy and time appears.