Regularization of geodesics in static spherically symmetric Kerr-Schild spacetimes

Abstract

We describe a method to analyze causal geodesics in static and spherically symmetric spacetimes of Kerr-Schild form which, in particular, allows for a detailed study of the geodesics in the vicinity of the central singularity by means of a regularization procedure based on a generalization of the McGehee regularization for the motion of Newtonian point particles moving in a power-law potential. The McGehee regularization was used by Belbruno and Pretorius to perform a dynamical system regularization of the central singularity of the motion of massless test particles in the Schwarzschild spacetime. Our generalization allows us to consider causal (timelike or null) geodesics in any static and spherically symmetric spacetime of Kerr-Schild form. As an example, we apply these results to causal geodesics in the Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordstr\"om spacetimes.