https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-07265-1
Regular Article
Time delay of wave propagation in Kerr spacetime
1
School of Mathematics and Physics, University of South China, 421001, Hengyang, China
2
Hunan Key Laboratory of Mathematical Modeling and Scientific Computing, University of South China, 421001, Hengyang, China
a
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Received:
18
December
2025
Accepted:
26
December
2025
Published online:
23
January
2026
Abstract
We present a systematic study of wave propagation in Kerr spacetime using a post-Minkowskian expansion within the harmonic coordinate system. For scalar, electromagnetic, and gravitational waves, we derive the complete second-order analytic solutions for the wave vector components and the trajectory parameterized by an affine parameter. Building upon these detailed kinematic solutions, we further obtain a general second-order analytic formula for the gravitational time delay experienced by a wave traversing an arbitrary path in this curved spacetime. This work establishes a necessary foundation for high-precision modeling of wave phenomena, such as gravitational lensing and signal timing, in the strong gravitational fields of rotating black holes.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2026
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
