  We study further a general relativistic mechanism for the acquisition of
tidal energy by free test particles near a gravitationally collapsed
configuration. Specifically, we investigate the solutions of timelike geodesic
equation in a Fermi normal coordinate system established about the world line
of an accelerated observer that remains spatially at rest in the exterior
Schwarzschild spacetime. Such static observers in effect define the rest frame
of the collapsed source. The gain in tidal energy is due to local spacetime
curvature. Previous work in this direction in connection with astrophysical
jets involved geodesic motion along the Kerr rotation axis where outward moving
particles could be tidally accelerated to almost the speed of light if their
initial speed, as measured by the reference observer, is above a certain
threshold escape velocity. We focus here for simplicity on the exterior
Schwarzschild spacetime and show that the effective tidal acceleration to near
the speed of light can occur for geodesic motion in certain radially outward
directions. The implications of these results for the physics of
gravitationally collapsed systems are briefly discussed.
