  In this paper, we study arrangements of orthogonal circles, that is,
arrangements of circles where every pair of circles must either be disjoint or
intersect at a right angle. Using geometric arguments, we show that such
arrangements have only a linear number of faces. This implies that orthogonal
circle intersection graphs have only a linear number of edges. When we restrict
ourselves to orthogonal unit circles, the resulting class of intersection
graphs is a subclass of penny graphs (that is, contact graphs of unit circles).
We show that, similarly to penny graphs, it is NP-hard to recognize orthogonal
unit circle intersection graphs.
