Hypocycloid motion in the Melvin magnetic universe

Abstract

The trajectory of a charged test particle in the Melvin magnetic universe is shown to take the form of hypocycloids in two different regimes, first of which is the class of perturbed circular orbits, and secondly in the weak-field approximation. In the latter case we find a simple relation between the charge of the particle and the number of cusps. These two regimes are within a continuously connected family of deformed hypocycloid-like orbits parametrised by the magnetic flux strength of the Melvin spacetime.