On the Cuspy Structure of Rotating Wormhole Shadows

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Cheng, Peng, Xu, Ruo-Fan, Zhao, Peng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Cheng, Peng
Xu, Ruo-Fan
Zhao, Peng
author_facet Cheng, Peng
Xu, Ruo-Fan
Zhao, Peng
contents We investigate the shadow cast by a rotating traversable wormhole in the Teo class endowed with a general redshift function, with particular emphasis on the emergence of cuspy structures. The shadow boundary is the common envelope of two critical orbit families: unstable circular orbits outside the throat and orbits at the throat itself. The formation of cusps, marking the transition between smooth and cuspy shadow boundaries, only becomes possible when the redshift parameter $λ$ is allowed to vary. Moreover, we uncover a universal critical value $λ_c$ that signals the onset of the cusp. A phase diagram characterized by the spin and redshift parameters reveals four distinct morphologies: smooth, cuspy, ears touching, and throat drowning. The morphology of the wormhole shadow may provide observational diagnostics for the different compact objects in future high-resolution imaging observations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_14182
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On the Cuspy Structure of Rotating Wormhole Shadows
Cheng, Peng
Xu, Ruo-Fan
Zhao, Peng
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
We investigate the shadow cast by a rotating traversable wormhole in the Teo class endowed with a general redshift function, with particular emphasis on the emergence of cuspy structures. The shadow boundary is the common envelope of two critical orbit families: unstable circular orbits outside the throat and orbits at the throat itself. The formation of cusps, marking the transition between smooth and cuspy shadow boundaries, only becomes possible when the redshift parameter $λ$ is allowed to vary. Moreover, we uncover a universal critical value $λ_c$ that signals the onset of the cusp. A phase diagram characterized by the spin and redshift parameters reveals four distinct morphologies: smooth, cuspy, ears touching, and throat drowning. The morphology of the wormhole shadow may provide observational diagnostics for the different compact objects in future high-resolution imaging observations.
title On the Cuspy Structure of Rotating Wormhole Shadows
topic General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.14182