Periastron Advance in Black-Hole Binaries

Alexandre Le Tiec, Abdul H. Mroué, Leor Barack, Alessandra Buonanno, Harald P. Pfeiffer, Norichika Sago, and Andrea Taracchini
Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 141101 – Published 30 September 2011

Abstract

The general relativistic (Mercury-type) periastron advance is calculated here for the first time with exquisite precision in full general relativity. We use accurate numerical relativity simulations of spinless black-hole binaries with mass ratios 1/8m1/m21 and compare with the predictions of several analytic approximation schemes. We find the effective-one-body model to be remarkably accurate and, surprisingly, so also the predictions of self-force theory [replacing m1/m2m1m2/(m1+m2)2]. Our results can inform a universal analytic model of the two-body dynamics, crucial for ongoing and future gravitational-wave searches.

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  • Received 16 June 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.141101

© 2011 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Alexandre Le Tiec1, Abdul H. Mroué2, Leor Barack3, Alessandra Buonanno1, Harald P. Pfeiffer2, Norichika Sago4, and Andrea Taracchini1

  • 1Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics and Joint Space-Science Institute, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
  • 2Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H8, Canada
  • 3School of Mathematics, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
  • 4Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan

See Also

Periastron advance in spinning black hole binaries: Gravitational self-force from numerical relativity

Alexandre Le Tiec, Alessandra Buonanno, Abdul H. Mroué, Harald P. Pfeiffer, Daniel A. Hemberger, Geoffrey Lovelace, Lawrence E. Kidder, Mark A. Scheel, Bela Szilágyi, Nicholas W. Taylor, and Saul A. Teukolsky
Phys. Rev. D 88, 124027 (2013)

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Issue

Vol. 107, Iss. 14 — 30 September 2011

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