Distinguishing the observational signatures of hot spots orbiting Reissner-Nordström spacetime*

Abstract This paper investigates observable signatures of hot spots orbiting Reissner-Nordström (RN) black holes and naked singularities. For an RN black hole, we find two discernible lensing image tracks in time integrated images, capturing a complete orbit of hot spots and a image shadow within the critical curve where photons with a small impact parameter fall into the event horizon. Conversely, in RN singularities, additional image tracks can be found within the critical curve, originating from photons reflected by the infinitely high effective potential well. Moreover, we find incomplete and converging tracks from the time integrated images of hot spot orbiting RN singularities that have no photon sphere. The presence of these additional image tracks significantly influences temporal magnitudes at their local maxima, enabling us to differentiate between RN black holes and RN naked singularities.