Static Limit and Penrose Effect in Rotating Reference Frames

Abstract

© 2019, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. We show that effects similar to those for a rotating black hole arise for an observer using a uniformly rotating reference frame in a flat space-time: a surface appears such that no body can be stationary beyond this surface, while the particle energy can be either zero or negative. Beyond this surface, which is similar to the static limit for a rotating black hole, an effect similar to the Penrose effect is possible. We consider the example where one of the fragments of a particle that has decayed into two particles beyond the static limit flies into the rotating reference frame inside the static limit and has an energy greater than the original particle energy. We obtain constraints on the relative velocity of the decay products during the Penrose process in the rotating reference frame. We consider the problem of defining energy in a noninertial reference frame. For a uniformly rotating reference frame, we consider the states of particles with minimum energy and show the relation of this quantity to the radiation frequency shift of the rotating body due to the transverse Doppler effect.