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Hod, On the number of light rings in curved spacetimes of ultra-compact objects (2017), arXiv:1710.00836 [gr-qc]

3 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.

3 Pith papers citing it
abstract

In a very interesting paper, Cunha, Berti, and Herdeiro have recently claimed that ultra-compact objects, self-gravitating horizonless solutions of the Einstein field equations which have a light ring, must possess at least {\it two} (and, in general, an even number of) light rings, of which the inner one is {\it stable}. In the present compact paper we explicitly prove that, while this intriguing theorem is generally true, there is an important exception in the presence of degenerate light rings which, in the spherically symmetric static case, are characterized by the simple dimensionless relation $8\pi r^2_{\gamma}(\rho+p_{\text{T}})=1$ [here $r_{\gamma}$ is the radius of the light ring and $\{\rho,p_{\text{T}}\}$ are respectively the energy density and tangential pressure of the matter fields]. Ultra-compact objects which belong to this unique family can have an {\it odd} number of light rings. As a concrete example, we show that spherically symmetric constant density stars with dimensionless compactness $M/R=1/3$ possess only {\it one} light ring which, interestingly, is shown to be {\it unstable}.

citation-role summary

background 2

citation-polarity summary

fields

gr-qc 3

years

2026 2 2025 1

verdicts

UNVERDICTED 3

roles

background 2

polarities

background 1 unclear 1

representative citing papers

Topological charge and black hole photon spheres in massive gravity

gr-qc · 2025-09-04 · unverdicted · novelty 7.0

In dRGT massive gravity, static spherically symmetric black holes exhibit zero, one, or two photon spheres whose topological charges and stability patterns differ from Einstein gravity and from horizonless compact objects.

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Showing 3 of 3 citing papers.