Spherical Photon Orbits around a Kerr Black Hole

Abstract

Two circular photon orbits are known to exist in the equatorial plane of the Kerr black hole. In this paper, we investigate so-called spherical photon orbits-orbits with constant coordinate radii that are not confined to the equatorial plane. A one-parameter class of solutions is found, which includes the circular orbits as special cases. The properties of these spherical orbits are then analyzed, with the aim of classifying them by qualitative differences in their behavior. Finally, representative orbits from each class are plotted out, including a zero-angular momentum photon orbit and one with non-fixed azimuthal direction.