Periapsis precession in general stationary and axisymmetric spacetimes

Abstract

This work studies the periapsis shift in the equatorial plane of arbitrary stationary and axisymmetric spacetimes. Two perturbative methods are systematically developed. The first works for small eccentricity but very general orbit size and the second, which is post-Newtonian and includes two variants, is more accurate for orbits of large size but allows general eccentricity. Results from these methods are shown to be equivalent under small eccentricity and large size limits. The periapsis shift of Kerr–Newman, Kerr–Sen and Kerr–Taub-NUT spacetimes is computed to high orders. The electric charge and NUT charge are shown to contribute to the leading order but with opposite signs. The frame-dragging term and high-order effect of spacetime spin are given. The electric and NUT charges of the Earth, Sun and Sgr A* are constrained using the Mercury, satellite and S2 precession data. Periapsis shifts of other spacetimes are obtained too.