Ultrarelativistic Motion: Inertial and Tidal Effects in Fermi Coordinates

TL;DR

This paper explores the behavior of ultrarelativistic particles and light in Fermi coordinates, revealing inertial and tidal effects that could explain high-energy cosmic rays through black-hole tidal acceleration.

Contribution

It introduces an analysis of ultrarelativistic motion in Fermi coordinates, highlighting effects beyond the critical speed and proposing a mechanism for cosmic ray origins.

Findings

Ultrarelativistic particles exhibit unique inertial and tidal effects in Fermi coordinates.

Black-hole tidal acceleration may serve as a source for high-energy cosmic rays.

Effects are significant beyond the critical speed c/√2.

Abstract

Fermi coordinates are the natural generalization of inertial Cartesian coordinates to accelerated systems and gravitational fields. We study the motion of ultrarelativistic particles and light rays in Fermi coordinates and investigate inertial and tidal effects beyond the critical speed c/sqrt(2). In particular, we discuss the black-hole tidal acceleration mechanism for ultrarelativistic particles in connection with a possible origin for high-energy cosmic rays.