"Centrifugal force: A gedanken experiment" - new surprises

TL;DR

This paper reexamines a thought experiment involving centrifugal force in relativity, clarifies its behavior in the inertial frame, and reveals an analogy with Schwarzschild geodesic motion, contributing to understanding relativistic inertial forces.

Contribution

It provides a new analysis of a relativistic centrifugal force thought experiment, clarifies its behavior in the inertial frame, and uncovers an analogy with Schwarzschild geometry.

Findings

Behavior described in inertial frame clarifies previous uncertainties.

Discovered analogy with radial geodesic motion in Schwarzschild spacetime.

Discussed the definition of centrifugal force in relativity.

Abstract

A recently proposed "gedanken experiment" [G.Z. Machabeli and A.D. Rogava. Phys. Rev. A {\bf 50}, 98 (1994)], exhibiting surprising behavior, is reexamined. A description of this behavior in terms of the laboratory inertial frame is presented, avoiding uncertainties arising due to a definition of a centrifugal force in relativity. The surprising analogy with the radial geodesic motion in Schwarzschild geometry is discovered. The definition of the centrifugal force, suggested by J.C. Miller and M.A. Abramowicz, is discussed.