Frame-dragging induced asymmetry in the bending of light near a Kerr black hole

Abstract

The deflection of light's trajectory has been studied in many different spacetime geometries in weak and strong gravity, including the special cases of spherically symmetric static and spinning black holes. It is also well known that the rotation of massive objects results in the dragging of inertial frames in the spacetime geometry. We present here a discussion of the asymmetry that appears explicitly in the exact analytical expression for the bending angle of light on the equatorial plane of the spinning, or Kerr, black hole.