Can Static Black Holes in Massive Gravity Serve as Candidates for Aschenbach-Like Phenomena?

TL;DR

This paper explores whether static black holes in Massive Gravity can exhibit Aschenbach-like phenomena, characterized by non-monotonic orbital velocities, traditionally linked to rotating black holes, and investigates their potential as observable signatures.

Contribution

It demonstrates that static black holes in Massive Gravity can support Aschenbach-like effects, expanding understanding of relativistic velocity profiles beyond rotating spacetimes.

Findings

Static Massive Gravity black holes can produce non-monotonic velocity profiles.

Aschenbach-like phenomena may serve as observable signatures in non-rotating black holes.

Curvature effects alone can induce velocity irregularities without frame dragging.

Abstract

The Aschenbach effect is widely regarded as a manifestation of two quintessential relativistic features: frame dragging and extreme spacetime curvature. Traditionally associated with rotating geometries, this non-monotonic behavior in orbital angular velocity challenges Newtonian intuition. In our previous work, however, we demonstrated that this velocity irregularity is not exclusive to spinning spacetimes. Specifically, we showed that the presence of a stable minimum in the gravitational potential, corresponding to a stable photon sphere, can reproduce Aschenbach-like behavior in static black holes as well. This observation suggests that, even in the absence of rotational frame dragging, curvature alone (if encoded through appropriate geometric extrema) may be sufficient to induce non-monotonic velocity profiles. In this study, we build upon that foundation to investigate whether black hole architectures in theories of Massive Gravity can inherently support the emergence of Aschenbach-like phenomena. Furthermore, can this Aschenbach-like phenomenon in static configurations be considered as an observable signature in the dynamics of general relativity, similar to the original Aschenbach effect in rotating spacetimes?