On Some Applications of the Sagnac Effect

TL;DR

This paper explores how the Sagnac effect can be used to detect higher dimensions, black hole rotation, and distinguish black holes from naked singularities through their impact on the Sagnac time delay.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the Sagnac effect is sensitive to extra dimensions, black hole rotation, and can differentiate between black holes and naked singularities in exact spacetime models.

Findings

Sagnac time delay is affected by extra dimensions and angular momentum.

The effect differs between black holes and naked singularities.

Potential use of the Sagnac effect in experimental spacetime analysis.

Abstract

Considering exact spacetimes representing rotating black holes and naked singularities, we study the possibility that the Sagnac effect detects $i$) higher dimensions, $ii$) rotation of black holes in higher dimension, and also, $iii$) distinguishes black holes from naked singularities. The results indicate that the Sagnac time delay gets affected by the presence of extra-dimension or its associated angular momentum. This time delay is also different in the spacetime of a naked singularity compared to that of a black hole. Hence, the Sagnac effect may be used as an experiment for better understanding of spacetimes with higher dimensions or those that admit naked singularities.