Abstract
We map the general relativistic two-body problem onto that of a test particle moving in an effective external metric. This effective-one-body approach defines, in a non-perturbative manner, the late dynamical evolution of a coalescing binary system of compact objects. The transition from the adiabatic inspiral, driven by gravitational radiation damping, to an unstable plunge, induced by strong spacetime curvature, is predicted to occur for orbits more tightly bound than the innermost stable circular orbit in a Schwarzschild metric of mass The binding energy, angular momentum and orbital frequency of the innermost stable circular orbit for the time-symmetric two-body problem are determined as a function of the mass ratio.
- Received 30 November 1998
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.59.084006
©1999 American Physical Society
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Physical Review D 50th Anniversary Milestones
This collection of seminal papers from PRD highlights research that remains central to developments today in particle physics, quantum field and string theory, gravitation, cosmology, and particle astrophysics.
