Analytic solutions of the geodesic equation in higher dimensional static spherically symmetric space-times

The complete analytical solutions of the geodesic equation of massive test particles in higher dimensional Schwarzschild, Schwarzschild-(anti)de Sitter, Reissner-Nordstroem and Reissner-Nordstroem-(anti)de Sitter space--times are presented. Using the Jacobi inversion problem restricted to the theta divisor the explicit solution is given in terms of Kleinian sigma functions. The derived orbits depend on the structure of the roots of the characteristic polynomials which depend on the particles energy and angular momentum, on the mass and the charge of the gravitational source, and the cosmological constant. We discuss the general structure of the orbits and show that due to the specific dimension-independent form of the angular momentum and the cosmological force a rich variety of orbits can emerge only in four and five dimensions. We present explicit analytical solutions for orbits up to 11 dimensions. A particular feature of Reissner--Nordstroem space-times is that bound and escape orbits traverse through different universes.

Orbits in the Field of a Gravitating Magnetic Monopole

Orbits of test particles and light rays are an important tool to study the properties of space-time metrics. Here we systematically study the properties of the gravitational field of a globally regular magnetic monopole in terms of the geodesics of test particles and light. The gravitational field depends on two dimensionless parameters, defined as ratios of the characteristic mass scales present. For critical values of these parameters the resulting metric coefficients develop a singular behavior, which has profound influence on the properties of the resulting space-time and which is clearly reflected in the orbits of the test particles and light rays.