No Arabic abstract
In this paper, we introduce PoMiN, a lightweight $N$-body code based on the post-Minkowskian $N$-body Hamiltonian of Ledvinka et. al., which includes general relativistic effects up to first order in Newtons constant $G$, and all orders in the speed of light $c$. PoMiN is written in C and uses a fourth-order Runge-Kutta integration scheme. PoMiN has also been written to handle an arbitrary number of particles (both massive and massless), with a computational complexity that scales as $O(N^2)$. We describe the methods we used to simplify and organize the Hamiltonian, and the tests we performed (convergence, conservation, and analytical comparison tests) to validate the code.
Advanced methods for computing perturbative, quantum-gravitational scattering amplitudes show great promise for improving our knowledge of classical gravitational dynamics. This is especially true in the weak-field and arbitrary-speed (post-Minkowskian, PM) regime, where the conservative dynamics at 3PM order has been recently determined for the first time, via an amplitude calculation. Such PM results are most relevantly applicable to relativistic scattering (unbound orbits), while bound/inspiraling binary systems, the most frequent sources of gravitational waves for the LIGO and Virgo detectors, are most suitably modeled by the weak-field and slow-motion (post-Newtonian, PN) approximation. Nonetheless, it has been suggested that PM results can independently lead to improved modeling of bound binary dynamics, especially when taken as inputs for effective-one-body (EOB) models of inspiraling binaries. Here, we initiate a quantitative study of this possibility, by comparing PM, EOB and PN predictions for the binding energy of a two-body system on a quasi-circular inspiraling orbit against results of numerical relativity (NR) simulations. The binding energy is one of the two central ingredients (the other being the gravitational-wave energy flux) that enters the computation of gravitational waveforms employed by LIGO and Virgo detectors, and for (quasi-)circular orbits it provides an accurate diagnostic of the conservative sector of a model. We find that, whereas 3PM results do improve the agreement with NR with respect to 2PM (especially when used in the EOB framework), it is crucial to push PM calculations at higher orders if one wants to achieve better performances than current waveform models used for LIGO/Virgo data analysis.
We study the gravitational radiation emitted during the scattering of two spinless bodies in the post-Minkowskian Effective Field Theory approach. We derive the conserved stress-energy tensor linearly coupled to gravity and the classical probability amplitude of graviton emission at leading and next-to-leading order in the Newtons constant $G$. The amplitude can be expressed in compact form as one-dimensional integrals over a Feynman parameter involving Bessel functions. We use it to recover the leading-order radiated angular momentum expression. Upon expanding it in the relative velocity between the two bodies $v$, we compute the total four-momentum radiated into gravitational waves at leading-order in $G$ and up to an order $v^8$, finding agreement with what was recently computed using scattering amplitude methods. Our results also allow us to investigate the zero frequency limit of the emitted energy spectrum.
The Effective One-Body formalism of the gravitational two-body problem in general relativity is reconsidered in the light of recent scattering amplitude calculations. Based on the kinematic relationship between momenta and the effective potential, we consider an energy-dependent effective metric describing the scattering in terms of an Effective One-Body problem for the reduced mass. The identification of the effective metric simplifies considerably in isotropic coordinates when combined with a redefined angular momentum map. While the effective energy-dependent metric as expected is not unique, solutions can be chosen perturbatively in the Post-Minkowskian expansion without the need to introduce non-metric corrections. By a canonical transformation, our condition maps to the one based on the standard angular momentum map. Expanding our metric around the Schwarzschild solution we recover the solution based on additional non-metric contributions.
We derive the second-order post-Minkowskian solution for the small-deflection motion of test particles in the external field of the Kerr-Newman black hole via an iterative method. The analytical results are exhibited in the coordinate system constituted by the particles initial velocity unit vector, impact vector, and their cross-product. The achieved formulas explicitly give the dependences of the particles trajectory and velocity on the time once their initial position and velocity are specified, and can be applied not only to a massive particle, but also to a photon as well.
We determine the gravitational interaction between two compact bodies up to the sixth power in Newtons constant GN, in the static limit. This result is achieved within the effective field theory approach to General Relativity, and exploits a manifest factorization property of static diagrams which allows to derive static post Newtonian (PN) contributions of (2n+1)-order in terms of lower order ones. We recompute in this fashion the 1PN and 3PN static potential, and present the novel 5PN contribution.