Gravitational deflection of relativistic massive particles by Kerr black holes and Teo wormholes viewed as a topological effect

Abstract

We consider the problem of gravitational deflection of a propagating relativistic massive particles by rotating black holes (Kerr black holes) and rotating wormholes (Teo wormholes) in the weak limit approximation. In particular we have introduced an alternative way to calculate the deflection angle for massive particles based on the refractive index of the optical media and the Gauss-Bonnet theorem applied to the isotropic optical metrics. The refractive index governing the propagation of massive particles is calculated by considering those particles as a de Broglie wave packets. Finally applying the Gauss-Bonnet theorem leads to an exact result for the deflection angle in both geometries. Put in other words, the trajectory of light rays as well as the trajectory of massive particles in a given spacetime background can be viewed as a global spacetime effect, namely as a topological effect.