Nodal and periastron precession of inclined orbits in the field of a rotating black hole

Abstract

The inclination of low-eccentricity orbits is shown to significantly affect orbital parameters, in particular, the Keplerian, nodal precession, and periastron rotation frequencies, which are interpreted in terms of observable quantities. For the nodal precession and periastron rotation frequencies of low-eccentricity orbits in a Kerr field, we derive a Taylor expansion in terms of the Kerr parameter at arbitrary orbital inclinations to the black-hole spin axis and at arbitrary radial coordinates. The particle radius, energy, and angular momentum in the marginally stable circular orbits are calculated as functions of the Kerr parameter j and parameter s in the form of Taylor expansions in terms of j to within O[j6]. By analyzing our numerical results, we give compact approximation formulas for the nodal precession frequency of the marginally stable circular orbits at various s in the entire range of the Kerr parameter.