Orbital dynamics and spin-precession around a circular chiral vorton

Abstract Vortons are of interest in high-energy physics as possible dark matter candidates and as probes of Grand Unified Theories. Using the recently derived metric for a circular chiral vorton, we investigate the dynamics of test particles of both timelike and null geodesics systematically. These extended, self-gravitating ring objects give rise to qualitatively distinct dynamical features compared to point-like or black hole spacetimes. We identify several classes of trajectories, including ring-centered bound orbits, as well as toroidal and crown-type oscillations, in addition to unbound scattering paths. The emergence of chaotic regimes, as revealed by Poincaré surfaces of section, show transitions between regular and chaotic motion that depend sensitively on the vorton tension $$G\mu $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>G</mml:mi> <mml:mi>μ</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> and initial conditions. This intrinsic non-integrability appears to be a consequence of the ring geometry. We further compute the Lense–Thirring and general spin-precession frequencies for gyroscopes along the Killing trajectories. The resulting precession profiles exhibit distinctive features absent in Kerr black holes, including divergences near the ring core and multi-minima structures, partially reminiscent of Kerr naked singularities. These dynamical and precessional signatures may offer potential observational pathways for detecting vortons.