Deconstructing Frame Dragging

Abstract: The vorticity of world lines of observers associated to the rotation of a massive body was reported by Lense and Thirring more than a century ago. In their example the frame dragging effect induced by the vorticity, is directly (explicitly) related to the rotation of the source. However in many other cases it is not so, and the origin of vorticity remains obscure and difficult to identify. Accordingly, in order to unravel this issue, and looking for the ultimate origin of vorticity associated to frame dragging, we analyze in this manuscript very different scenarios where frame dragging effect is present. Specifically we consider general vacuum stationary spacetimes, general electro-vacuum spacetimes, radiating electro-vacuum spacetimes and Bondi--Sachs radiating spacetimes. We identify the physical quantities present in all these cases, which determine the vorticity and may legitimately be considered as responsible for the frame dragging. Doing so we provide a comprehensive physical picture of frame dragging. Some observational consequences of our results are discussed.