Lense–Thirring precession

Short description: Precession of a gyroscope due to a nearby celestial body's rotation affecting spacetime

Template:General relativity In general relativity, Lense–Thirring precession or the Lense–Thirring effect (de-AT; named after Josef Lense and Hans Thirring) is a relativistic correction to the precession of a gyroscope near a large rotating mass such as the Earth. It is a gravitomagnetic frame-dragging effect. It is a prediction of general relativity consisting of secular precessions of the longitude of the ascending node and the argument of pericenter of a test particle freely orbiting a central spinning mass endowed with angular momentum S.

The difference between de Sitter precession and the Lense–Thirring effect is that the de Sitter effect is due simply to the presence of a central mass, whereas the Lense–Thirring effect is due to the rotation of the central mass. The total precession is calculated by combining the de Sitter precession with the Lense–Thirring precession.

According to a 2007 historical analysis by Herbert Pfister,[1] the effect should be renamed the Einstein–Thirring–Lense effect.

## Contents

* 1 Lense–Thirring metric
* 2 Coriolis term
* 3 Precession
* 4 Gravitoelectromagnetic analysis
* 5 Example: Foucault's pendulum
* 6 Experimental verification
* 7 Astrophysical setting
* 8 Astrophysical tests
* 9 See also
* 10 References
* 11 External links

## Lense–Thirring metric

The gravitational field of a spinning spherical body of constant density was studied by Lense and Thirring in 1918, in the weak-field approximation. They obtained the metric[2][3] ds2=(1−2GMrc2)c2dt2−(1+2GMrc2)dσ2+4GϵijkSkxic3r3cdtdxj, where the symbols represent:

* ds2 the metric,
* dσ2=dx2+dy2+dz2=dr2+r2dθ2+r2sin2θdφ2 the flat-space line element in three dimensions,
* r=x2+y2+z2 the "radial" position of the observer,
* c the speed of light,
* G the gravitational constant,
* ϵijk the completely antisymmetric Levi-Civita symbol,
* M=∫T00d3x the mass of the rotating body,
* Sk=∫ϵklmxlTm0d3x the angular momentum of the rotating body,
* Tμν the energy–momentum tensor.

The above is the weak-field approximation of the full solution of the Einstein equations for a rotating body, known as the Kerr metric, which, due to the difficulty of its solution, was not obtained until 1965.

## Coriolis term

The frame-dragging effect can be demonstrated in several ways. One way is to solve for geodesics; these will then exhibit a Coriolis force-like term, except that, in this case (unlike the standard Coriolis force), the force is not fictional, but is due to frame dragging induced by the rotating body. So, for example, an (instantaneously) radially infalling geodesic at the equator will satisfy the equation[2] rd2φdt2+2GJc2r3drdt=0, where

* t is the time,
* φ is the azimuthal angle (longitudinal angle),
* J=‖S‖ is the magnitude of the angular momentum of the spinning massive body.

The above can be compared to the standard equation for motion subject to the Coriolis force: rd2φdt2+2ωdrdt=0, where ω is the angular velocity of the rotating coordinate system. Note that, in either case, if the observer is not in radial motion, i.e. if dr/dt=0, there is no effect on the observer.

## Precession

The frame-dragging effect will cause a gyroscope to precess. The rate of precession is given by[3] Ωk=Gc2r3[Sk−3(S⋅x)xkr2], where:

* Ω is the angular velocity of the precession, a vector, and Ωk one of its components,
* Sk the angular momentum of the spinning body, as before,
* S⋅x the ordinary flat-metric inner product of the position and the angular momentum.

That is, if the gyroscope's angular momentum relative to the fixed stars is Li, then it precesses as dLidt=ϵijkΩjLk.

The rate of precession is given by ϵijkΩk=Γij0, where Γij0 is the Christoffel symbol for the above metric. Gravitation by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler[3] provides hints on how to most easily calculate this.

## Gravitoelectromagnetic analysis

It is popular in some circles to use the gravitoelectromagnetic approach to the linearized field equations. The reason for this popularity should be immediately evident below, by contrasting it to the difficulties of working with the equations above. The linearized metric hμν=gμν−ημν can be read off from the Lense–Thirring metric given above, where ds2=gμνdxμdxν, and ημνdxμdxν=c2dt2−dx2−dy2−dz2. In this approach, one writes the linearized metric, given in terms of the gravitomagnetic potentials ϕ and A→ is h00=−2ϕc2 and h0i=2Aic2, where ϕ=−GMr is the gravito-electric potential, and A→=G2r3cS→×r→ is the gravitomagnetic potential. Here r→ is the 3D spatial coordinate of the observer, and S→ is the angular momentum of the rotating body, exactly as defined above. The corresponding fields are E→=−∇ϕ−∂A→∂t for the gravitoelectric field, and B→=∇→×A→ is the gravitomagnetic field. It is then a matter of substitution and rearranging to obtain B→=−G2cr3[S→−3(S→⋅r→)r→r2] as the gravitomagnetic field. Note that it is half the Lense–Thirring precession frequency. In this context, Lense–Thirring precession can essentially be viewed as a form of Larmor precession. The factor of 1/2 suggests that the correct gravitomagnetic analog of the g-factor is two. This factor of two can be explained completely analogous to the electron's g-factor by taking into account relativistic calculations.

The gravitomagnetic analog of the Lorentz force in the non-relativistic limit is given by F→=mE→+mv→c×B→, where m is the mass of a test particle moving with velocity v→. This can be used in a straightforward way to compute the classical motion of bodies in the gravitomagnetic field. For example, a radially infalling body will have a velocity v→=−r^dr/dt; direct substitution yields the Coriolis term given in a previous section.

## Example: Foucault's pendulum

To get a sense of the magnitude of the effect, the above can be used to compute the rate of precession of Foucault's pendulum, located at the surface of the Earth.

For a solid ball of uniform density, such as the Earth, of radius R, the moment of inertia is given by 2MR2/5, so that the absolute value of the angular momentum S is ‖S‖=2MR2ω/5, with ω the angular speed of the spinning ball.

The direction of the spin of the Earth may be taken as the z axis, whereas the axis of the pendulum is perpendicular to the Earth's surface, in the radial direction. Thus, we may take z^⋅r^=cos⁡θ, where θ is the latitude. Similarly, the location of the observer r is at the Earth's surface R. This leaves rate of precession is as ΩLT=25GMωc2Rcos⁡θ.

As an example the latitude of the city of Nijmegen in the Netherlands is used for reference. This latitude gives a value for the Lense–Thirring precession ΩLT=2.2⋅10−4 arcseconds/day.

At this rate a Foucault pendulum would have to oscillate for more than 16000 years to precess 1 degree. Despite being quite small, it is still two orders of magnitude larger than Thomas precession for such a pendulum.

The above does not include the de Sitter precession; it would need to be added to get the total relativistic precessions on Earth.

## Experimental verification

The Lense–Thirring effect, and the effect of frame dragging in general, continues to be studied experimentally. There are two basic settings for experimental tests: direct observation via satellites and spacecraft orbiting Earth, Mars or Jupiter, and indirect observation by measuring astrophysical phenomena, such as accretion disks surrounding black holes and neutron stars, or astrophysical jets from the same.

The Juno spacecraft's suite of science instruments will primarily characterize and explore the three-dimensional structure of Jupiter's polar magnetosphere, auroras and mass composition.[4] As Juno is a polar-orbit mission, it will be possible to measure the orbital frame-dragging, known also as Lense–Thirring precession, caused by the angular momentum of Jupiter.[5]

Results from astrophysical settings are presented after the following section.

## Astrophysical setting

A star orbiting a spinning supermassive black hole experiences Lense–Thirring precession, causing its orbital line of nodes to precess at a rate[6] dΩdt=2GSc2a3(1−e2)3/2=2G2M2χc3a3(1−e2)3/2, where

* a and e are the semimajor axis and eccentricity of the orbit,
* M is the mass of the black hole,
* χ is the dimensionless spin parameter (0 < χ < 1).

The precessing stars also exert a torque back on the black hole, causing its spin axis to precess, at a rate[7] d𝐒dt=2Gc2∑j𝐋j×𝐒aj3(1−ej2)3/2, where

* Lj is the angular momentum of the jth star,
* aj and ej are its semimajor axis and eccentricity.

A gaseous accretion disk that is tilted with respect to a spinning black hole will experience Lense–Thirring precession, at a rate given by the above equation, after setting e = 0 and identifying a with the disk radius. Because the precession rate varies with distance from the black hole, the disk will "wrap up", until viscosity forces the gas into a new plane, aligned with the black hole's spin axis.[8]

## Astrophysical tests

The orientation of an astrophysical jet can be used as evidence to deduce the orientation of an accretion disk; a rapidly changing jet orientation suggests a reorientation of the accretion disk, as described above. Exactly such a change was observed in 2019 with the black hole X-ray binary in V404 Cygni.[9]

Pulsars emit rapidly repeating radio pulses with extremely high regularity, which can be measured with microsecond precision over time spans of years and even decades. A 2020 study reports the observation of a pulsar in a tight orbit with a white dwarf, to sub-millisecond precision over two decades. The precise determination allows the change of orbital parameters to be studied; these confirm the operation of the Lense–Thirring effect in this astrophysical setting.[10]

It may be possible to detect the Lense–Thirring effect by long-term measurement of the orbit of the S2 star around the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way, using the GRAVITY instrument of the Very Large Telescope.[11] The star orbits with a period of 16 years, and it should be possible to constrain the angular momentum of the black hole by observing the star over two to three periods (32 to 48 years).[12]

## See also

* Gravity Probe B

## References

1. ↑ Pfister, Herbert (November 2007). "On the history of the so-called Lense–Thirring effect". General Relativity and Gravitation 39 (11): 1735–1748. doi:10.1007/s10714-007-0521-4. Bibcode: 2007GReGr..39.1735P.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ronald Adler; Maurice Bazin; Menahem Schiffer (1965). Introduction to General Relativity. McGraw-Hill Book Company. ISBN 0-07-000423-4. https://archive.org/details/introductiontoge0000adle.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Charles W. Misner; Kip S. Thorne; John Archibald Wheeler (1973). "Chapter 19". Gravitation. W. H. Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-0334-3.
4. ↑ "Juno Science Objectives". University of Wisconsin-Madison. http://juno.wisc.edu/science.html.
5. ↑ Iorio, L. (August 2010). "Juno, the angular momentum of Jupiter and the Lense–Thirring effect". New Astronomy 15 (6): 554–560. doi:10.1016/j.newast.2010.01.004. Bibcode: 2010NewA...15..554I.
6. ↑ Merritt, David (2013). Dynamics and Evolution of Galactic Nuclei. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-4008-4612-2. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16802359W/Dynamics_and_Evolution_of_Galactic_Nuclei.
7. ↑ Merritt, David; Vasiliev, Eugene (November 2012). "Spin evolution of supermassive black holes and galactic nuclei". Physical Review D 86 (10): 102002. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.86.022002. Bibcode: 2012PhRvD..86j2002M.
8. ↑ Bardeen, James M.; Petterson, Jacobus A. (January 1975). "The Lense–Thirring Effect and Accretion Disks around Kerr Black Holes". The Astrophysical Journal Letters 195: L65. doi:10.1086/181711. Bibcode: 1975ApJ...195L..65B.
9. ↑ James C. A. Miller-Jones; Alexandra J. Tetarenko; Gregory R. Sivakoff; Matthew J. Middleton; Diego Altamirano; Gemma E. Anderson; Tomaso M. Belloni; Rob P. Fender et al. (29 April 2019). "A rapidly changing jet orientation in the stellar-mass black-hole system V404 Cygni". Nature 569 (7756): 374–377. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1152-0. PMID 31036949. Bibcode: 2019Natur.569..374M. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/431852/1/A_rapidly_changing_jet_orientation_in_the_stellar_mass_black_hole_system_V404_Cygni.pdf.
10. ↑ "Space-time is swirling around a dead star, proving Einstein right again". Space.com. 2020-01-30. https://www.space.com/einstein-general-relativity-frame-dragging.html.
11. ↑ Eisenhauer, Frank (March 2011). "GRAVITY: Observing the Universe in Motion". The Messenger 143: 16–24. Bibcode: 2011Msngr.143...16E.
12. ↑ Grould, Marion; Vincent, Frédéric H.; Paumard, Thibaut; Perrin, Guy (2016). "Detection of relativistic effects on the S2 orbit with GRAVITY". Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union (Cambridge University Press (CUP)) 11 (S322): 25–30. doi:10.1017/s174392131601245x. ISSN 1743-9213.

## External links

* (German) explanation of Thirring–Lense effect; has pictures for the satellite example.

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