Second-Order Approximate Symmetries of the Geodesic Equations for the Reissner-Nordström Metric and Re-Scaling of Energy of a Test Particle

Abstract

Following the use of approximate symmetries for the Schwarzschild spacetime by A.H. Kara, F.M. Mahomed and A. Qadir (Nonlinear Dynam., to appear), we have investigated the exact and approximate symmetries of the system of geodesic equations for the Reissner-Nordström spacetime (RN). For this purpose we are forced to use second order approximate symmetries. It is shown that in the second-order approximation, energy must be rescaled for the RN metric. The implications of this rescaling are discussed.