Linearized Kerr and spinning massive bodies: An electrodynamics analogy

Abstract

We discuss the correspondence between spinning, charged spherical sources in electrodynamics and spinning, massive spherical sources in linearized general relativity and show that the form of the potentials and equations of motion are similar in the two cases in the slow motion limit. This similarity allows us to interpret the Kerr metric in analogy with a spinning sphere in electrodynamics and aids in understanding linearized general relativity, where the “forces” are effective and come from the intrinsic curvature of space-time.