Metric reconstruction in Kerr spacetime

Abstract Metric reconstruction is the general problem of parameterizing GR in terms of its two ‘true degrees of freedom’, e.g. by a complex scalar ‘potential’—in practice mostly with the aim of simplifying the Einstein equation (EE) within perturbative approaches. In this paper, we re-analyze the metric reconstruction procedure by Green, Hollands, and Zimmerman (GHZ) (Green et al 2020 Class. Quantum Grav. 37 075001), which is a generalization of the Chrzanowski-Cohen-Kegeles (CCK) approach. Contrary to the CCK method, that by GHZ is applicable not only to the vacuum, but also to the sourced linearized EE on Kerr. Our main innovation is a version of the GHZ integration scheme that is suitable for the initial value problem of the sourced linear EE. By iteration, our scheme gives the metric to as high an order in perturbation theory as one might wish, in principle. At each order, the metric perturbation is a sum of a corrector, obtained by solving a triangular system of transport equations, a reconstructed piece, obtained from a Hertz potential as in the CCK approach, and an algebraically special perturbation, determined by the ADM quantities. As a by-product, we determine the precise relations between the asymptotic tail of the Hertz potential in the GHZ and CCK schemes, and the quantities relevant for gravitational radiation, namely, the energy flux, news- and memory tensors, and their associated BMS-supertranslations. We also discuss ways of transforming the metric perturbation to Lorenz gauge.