Periodic orbits and chaos around two black holes

Abstract

We calculate orbits of photons and particles in the relativistic problem of two extreme Reissner-Nordström black holes (fixed). In the case of photons there are three types of non-periodic orbits, namely orbits falling into the black holes M 1 and M 2 (types I and II), and orbits escaping to infinity (III). The various types of orbits are separated by orbits asymptotic to the three main types of (unstable) periodic orbits: ( a ) around M 1 , ( b ) around M 2 and ( c ) around both M 1 and M 2 . Between two non-periodic orbits of two different types there are orbits of the third type. The initial conditions of the three types of orbits form three Cantor sets, and this fact is a manifestation of chaos. The role of higher-order periodic orbits is explained. In the case of particles the situation is similar in the parabolic and hyperbolic cases. However, in the elliptic case the orbits are contained inside a curve of zero velocity, and there are no escaping orbits. Instead we have orbits trapped around stable periodic orbits (IV) and stochastic orbits not falling on the black holes M 1 and M 2 (V). The stable periodic orbits become unstable by period doubling, and infinite period doublings lead to chaos. The newtonian limit is an integrable problem (essentially the same as the classical problem of two fixed centres). The periodic orbits of type ( c ) are topologically similar to the corresponding relativistic orbits, but they differ considerably numerically. We prove that in the newtonian case there are no satellite orbits around M 1 or M 2 (of type ( a ) or ( b )). The post-newtonian case is non-integrable. In this case there are in general orbits of all three types ( a ), ( b ) and ( c ).