Marginally stable circular orbits in stationary axisymmetric spacetimes

We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of marginally stable circular orbits (MSCOs) of test particles in a stationary axisymmetric (SAS) spacetime which possesses a reflection symmetry with respect to the equatorial plane; photon orbits and marginally bound orbits (MBOs) are also addressed. Energy and angular momentum are shown to decouple from metric quantities, rendering a purely geometric characterization of circular orbits for this general class of metrics. The subsequent system is analyzed using resultants, providing an algorithmic approach for finding MSCO conditions. MSCOs, photon orbits and MBOs are explicitly calculated for concrete examples of physical interest.