Analytic Solutions for the Motion of Spinning Particles near Spherically Symmetric Black Holes and Exotic Compact Objects

Rapidly rotating bodies moving in curved space-time experience the so-called spin-curvature force, which becomes important for the motion of compact objects in gravitational-wave inspirals. As a first approximation, this effect is captured in the motion of a spinning test particle. We solve the equations motion of a spinning particle to leading order in spin in arbitrary static and spherically symmetric space-times in terms of one-dimensional closed-form integrals. This solves the problem and proves its integrability in a wide range of modified gravities and near exotic compact objects. Then, by specializing to the case of bound orbits in Schwarzschild space-time, we demonstrate how to express the solution in the form of Jacobi elliptic functions.

Spinning Test Particle in Four-Dimensional Einstein–Gauss–Bonnet Black Holes

In this paper, we investigate the motion of a classical spinning test particle in a background of a spherically symmetric black hole based on the novel four-dimensional Einstein–Gauss–Bonnet gravity [D. Glavan and C. Lin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 081301 (2020)]. We find that the effective potential of a spinning test particle in this background could have two minima when the Gauss–Bonnet coupling parameter α is nearly in a special range −8<α/M2<−2 (M is the mass of the black hole), which means a particle can be in two separate orbits with the same spin-angular momentum and orbital angular momentum, and the accretion disc could have discrete structures. We also investigate the innermost stable circular orbits of the spinning test particle and find that the corresponding radius could be smaller than the cases in general relativity.

Second-Order Self-Force Calculation of Gravitational Binding Energy in Compact Binaries

Self-force theory is the leading method of modeling extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs), key sources for the gravitational-wave detector LISA. It is well known that for an accurate EMRI model, second-order self-force effects are critical, but calculations of these effects have been beset by obstacles. In this Letter we present the first implementation of a complete scheme for second-order self-force computations, specialized to the case of quasicircular orbits about a Schwarzschild black hole. As a demonstration, we calculate the gravitational binding energy of these binaries.

Self-force and radiation reaction in general relativity

The detection of gravitational waves from binary black-hole mergers by the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration marks the dawn of an era when general-relativistic dynamics in its most extreme manifestation is directly accessible to observation. In the future, planned (space-based) observatories operating in the millihertz band will detect the intricate gravitational-wave signals from the inspiral of compact objects into massive black holes residing in galactic centers. Such inspiral events are extremely effective probes of black-hole geometries, offering unparalleled precision tests of general relativity in its most extreme regime. This prospect has in the past two decades motivated a programme to obtain an accurate theoretical model of the strong-field radiative dynamics in a two-body system with a small mass ratio. The problem naturally lends itself to a perturbative treatment based on a systematic expansion of the field equations in the small mass ratio. At leading order one has a pointlike particle moving in a geodesic orbit around the large black hole. At subsequent orders, interaction of the particle with its own gravitational perturbation gives rise to an effective 'self-force', which drives the radiative evolution of the orbit, and whose effects can be accounted for order by order in the mass ratio. This review surveys the theory of gravitational self-force in curved spacetime and its application to the astrophysical inspiral problem. We first lay the relevant formal foundation, describing the rigorous derivation of the equation of self-forced motion using matched asymptotic expansions and other ideas. We then review the progress that has been achieved in numerically calculating the self-force and its physical effects in astrophysically realistic inspiral scenarios. We highlight the way in which, nowadays, self-force calculations make a fruitful contact with other approaches to the two-body problem and help inform an accurate universal model of binary black hole inspirals, valid across all mass ratios. We conclude with a summary of the state of the art, open problems and prospects. Our review is aimed at non-specialist readers and is for the most part self-contained and non-technical; only elementary-level acquaintance with general relativity is assumed. Where useful, we draw on analogies with familiar concepts from Newtonian gravity or classical electrodynamics.