No Arabic abstract
[abridged] The inspiral of a stellar compact object into a massive black hole is one of the main sources of gravitational waves for the future space-based Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. We expect to be able to detect and analyze many cycles of these slowly inspiraling systems. To that end, the use of very precise theoretical waveform templates in the data analysis is required. To build them we need to have a deep understanding of the gravitational backreaction mechanism responsible for the inspiral. The self-force approach describes the inspiral as the action of a local force that can be obtained from the regularization of the perturbations created by the stellar compact object on the massive black hole geometry. In this paper we extend a new time-domain technique for the computation of the self-force from the circular case to the case of eccentric orbits around a non-rotating black hole. The main idea behind our scheme is to use a multidomain framework in which the small compact object, described as a particle, is located at the interface between two subdomains. Then, the equations at each subdomain are homogeneous wave-type equations, without distributional sources. In this particle-without-particle formulation, the solution of the equations is smooth enough to provide good convergence properties for the numerical computations. This formulation is implemented by using a pseudospectral collocation method for the spatial discretization, combined with a Runge Kutta algorithm for the time evolution. We present results from several simulations of eccentric orbits in the case of a scalar charged particle around a Schwarzschild black hole. In particular, we show the convergence of the method and its ability to resolve the field and its derivatives across the particle location. Finally, we provide numerical values of the self-force for different orbital parameters.
The computation of the self-force constitutes one of the main challenges for the construction of precise theoretical waveform templates in order to detect and analyze extreme-mass-ratio inspirals with the future space-based gravitational-wave observatory LISA. Since the number of templates required is quite high, it is important to develop fast algorithms both for the computation of the self-force and the production of waveforms. In this article we show how to tune a recent time-domain technique for the computation of the self-force, what we call the Particle without Particle scheme, in order to make it very precise and at the same time very efficient. We also extend this technique in order to allow for highly eccentric orbits.
We present results from calculations of the orbital evolution in eccentric binaries of nonrotating black holes with extreme mass-ratios. Our inspiral model is based on the method of osculating geodesics, and is the first to incorporate the full gravitational self-force (GSF) effect, including conservative corrections. The GSF information is encapsulated in an analytic interpolation formula based on numerical GSF data for over a thousand sample geodesic orbits. We assess the importance of including conservative GSF corrections in waveform models for gravitational-wave searches.
We formulate and solve the problem of spherically symmetric, steady state, adiabatic accretion onto a Schwarzschild-like black hole obtained recently. We derive the general analytic expressions for the critical points, the critical velocity, the critical speed of sound, and subsequently the mass accretion rate. The case for polytropic gas is discussed in detail. We find the parameter characterizing the breaking of Lorentz symmetry will slow down the mass accretion rate, while has no effect on the gas compression and the temperature profile below the critical radius and at the event horizon.
We present the first numerical construction of the scalar Schwarzschild Green function in the time-domain, which reveals several universal features of wave propagation in black hole spacetimes. We demonstrate the trapping of energy near the photon sphere and confirm its exponential decay. The trapped wavefront propagates through caustics resulting in echoes that propagate to infinity. The arrival times and the decay rate of these caustic echoes are consistent with propagation along null geodesics and the large l-limit of quasinormal modes. We show that the four-fold singularity structure of the retarded Green function is due to the well-known action of a Hilbert transform on the trapped wavefront at caustics. A two-fold cycle is obtained for degenerate source-observer configurations along the caustic line, where the energy amplification increases with an inverse power of the scale of the source. Finally, we discuss the tail piece of the solution due to propagation within the light cone, up to and including null infinity, and argue that, even with ideal instruments, only a finite number of echoes can be observed. Putting these pieces together, we provide a heuristic expression that approximates the Green function with a few free parameters. Accurate calculations and approximations of the Green function are the most general way of solving for wave propagation in curved spacetimes and should be useful in a variety of studies such as the computation of the self-force on a particle.
We investigate analytically and numerically the orbits of spinning particles around black holes in the post Newtonian limit and in the presence of cosmic expansion. We show that orbits that are circular in the absence of spin, get deformed when the orbiting particle has spin. We show that the origin of this deformation is twofold: a. the background expansion rate which induces an attractive (repulsive) interaction due to the cosmic background fluid when the expansion is decelerating (accelerating) and b. a spin-orbit interaction which can be attractive or repulsive depending on the relative orientation between spin and orbital angular momentum and on the expansion rate.