Ynogk: A new public code for calculating null geodesics in the kerr spacetime

Abstract

Following the work of Dexter & Agol, we present a new public code for the fast calculation of null geodesics in the Kerr spacetime. Using Weierstrass's and Jacobi's elliptic functions, we express all coordinates and affine parameters as analytical and numerical functions of a parameter p, which is an integral value along the geodesic. This is the main difference between our code and previous similar ones. The advantage of this treatment is that the information about the turning points does not need to be specified in advance by the user, and many applications such as imaging, the calculation of line profiles, and the observer-emitter problem, become root-finding problems. All elliptic integrations are computed by Carlson's elliptic integral method as in Dexter & Agol, which guarantees the fast computational speed of our code. The formulae to compute the constants of motion given by Cunningham & Bardeen have been extended, which allow one to readily handle situations in which the emitter or the observer has an arbitrary distance from, and motion state with respect to, the central compact object. The validation of the code has been extensively tested through applications to toy problems from the literature. The source FORTRAN code is freely available for download on our Web site http://www1.ynao.ac.cn/∼yangxl/yxl.html. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.