Paczynski-Wiita-like potential for any static spherical black hole in metric theories of gravity

Abstract: The pseudo-Newtonian potential of Paczynski and Wiita for particles orbiting a Schwarzschild black hole is generalized to arbitrary static and spherically symmetric spacetimes, including black hole solutions of alternative theories of gravity. In addition to being more general, our prescription differs substantially from a previous one in the literature, showing that even the association of a pseudo-Newtonian potential with a simple black hole metric is not unique.