Radiation reaction at 3.5 post-Newtonian order in effective field theory

We derive the radiation reaction forces on a compact binary inspiral through 3.5 order in the post-Newtonian expansion using the effective field theory approach. We utilize a recent formulation of Hamilton’s variational principle that rigorously extends the usual Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms to dissipative systems, including the inspiral of a compact binary from the emission of gravitational waves. We find agreement with previous results, which thus provides a non-trivial confirmation of the extended variational principle. The results from this work nearly complete the equations of motion for the generic inspiral of a compact binary with spinning constituents through 3.5 post-Newtonian order, as derived entirely with effective field theory, with only the spin-orbit corrections to the potential at 3.5 post-Newtonian remaining.

Figure 1

The Feynman diagram giving the contribution to the radiation reaction from the mass quadrupole. $A$ and $B$ label worldlines that have been doubled in the extended variational principle.

Figure 2

The Feynman diagram giving the contributions to the radiation reaction from the mass octupole (left diagram) and the current quadrupole (right diagram).