Novel topological phenomena of timelike circular orbits for charged test particles

TL;DR

This paper explores how the charge of test particles affects the topological properties of their timelike circular orbits around charged black holes, revealing new phenomena related to orbit stability and pairing.

Contribution

It introduces a topological analysis of charged test particle orbits in charged black hole spacetimes, uncovering novel behaviors based on particle charge magnitude.

Findings

Large charges lead to a topological number of -1, differing from neutral cases.

Small charges result in orbit pairs, while larger charges produce an additional unstable orbit.

Charge influences the topological number and stability of circular orbits.

Abstract

The topological approach has recently been successfully employed to investigate timelike circular orbits for massive neutral test particles. The observed vanishing topological number implies that these timelike circular orbits occur in pairs. However, the behavior of charged test particles in this regard remains unexplored. To address this issue, our study focuses on examining the influence of particle charge on the topology of timelike circular orbits within a spherically symmetrical black hole spacetime holding a nonvanishing radial electric field. We consider four distinct cases based on the charges of the particle and the black hole: unlike strong charge, unlike weak charge, like weak charge, and like strong charge. For each case, we calculate the corresponding topological number. Our results reveal that when the charge is large enough, the topological number takes a value of -1 instead of 0, which differs from the neutral particle scenario. Consequently, in cases of small charges, the timelike circular orbits appear in pairs, whereas in cases of larger charges, an additional unstable timelike circular orbit emerges. These findings shed light on the influence of the particle charge on the topological properties and number of timelike circular orbits.