Abstract
Using a rigorous method of matched asymptotic expansions, I derive the equation of motion of a small, compact body in an external vacuum spacetime through second order in the body’s mass (neglecting effects of internal structure). The motion is found to be geodesic in a certain locally defined regular geometry satisfying Einstein’s equation at second order. I outline a method of numerically obtaining both the metric of that regular geometry and the complete second-order metric perturbation produced by the body.
- Received 24 January 2012
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.051101
© 2012 American Physical Society