Seeing relativity -- II. Revisiting and visualizing the Reissner-Nordstr\"om metric

Abstract

In this paper we study some features of the Reissner-Nordstr\"om metric both from an analytic and a visual point of view. We perform an accurate ray tracing and study of null geodesics in various situations. Among the issues we focus on are (i) the comparison with the Schwarzschild case, (ii) the naked singularity case, where, if the electric charge is not too large, some dark shell appears on images despite there is no horizon in the metric, and (iii) the wormhole crossing case, i.e., a visual exploration of the maximal analytic extension of the metric.