Flux-balance laws for spinning bodies under the gravitational self-force

The motion of an extended, but still weakly gravitating body in general relativity can often be determined by a set of conserved quantities. Much like for geodesic motion, a sufficient number of conserved quantities allows the motion to be solved by quadrature. Under the gravitational self-force (relaxing the ``weakly gravitating'' assumption), the motion can then be described in terms of the evolution these ``conserved quantities.'' This evolution can be calculated using the (local) self-force on the body, but such an approach is computationally intensive. To avoid this, one often uses flux-balance laws: relationships between the average evolution (capturing the dissipative dynamics) and the values of the field far away from the body, which are far easier to compute. In the absence of spin, such a flux-balance law has been proven in Isoyama et al. [``Flux-balance formulae'' for extreme mass-ratio inspirals, Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2019, 013E01 (2019).] for any of the conserved action variables appearing in a Hamiltonian formulation of geodesic motion in the Kerr spacetime. In this paper, we derive a corresponding flux-balance law, to linear order in spin, directly relating average rates of change to the flux of a conserved current through the horizon and out to infinity. In the absence of spin, this reproduces results consistent with those in Isoyama et al. [``Flux-balance formulae'' for extreme mass-ratio inspirals, Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2019, 013E01 (2019).]. To linear order in spin, we construct flux-balance laws for four of the five constants of motion for spinning bodies in the Kerr spacetime, although not in a practical form. However, this result provides a promising path toward deriving the flux-balance law for the (generalized) Carter constant.

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Publication Details

Journal
Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
Published
2025-04-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.111.084015
Citations
8
Primary Topic
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
9.24

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article

Flux-balance laws for spinning bodies under the gravitational self-force

Alexander M. Grant
8 citations
Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
9.24
article

Flux-balance laws for spinning bodies under the gravitational self-force

Alexander M. Grant
article en
8 citations

Abstract

The motion of an extended, but still weakly gravitating body in general relativity can often be determined by a set of conserved quantities. Much like for geodesic motion, a sufficient number of conserved quantities allows the motion to be solved by quadrature. Under the gravitational self-force (relaxing the ``weakly gravitating'' assumption), the motion can then be described in terms of the evolution these ``conserved quantities.'' This evolution can be calculated using the (local) self-force on the body, but such an approach is computationally intensive. To avoid this, one often uses flux-balance laws: relationships between the average evolution (capturing the dissipative dynamics) and the values of the field far away from the body, which are far easier to compute. In the absence of spin, such a flux-balance law has been proven in Isoyama et al. [``Flux-balance formulae'' for extreme mass-ratio inspirals, Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2019, 013E01 (2019).] for any of the conserved action variables appearing in a Hamiltonian formulation of geodesic motion in the Kerr spacetime. In this paper, we derive a corresponding flux-balance law, to linear order in spin, directly relating average rates of change to the flux of a conserved current through the horizon and out to infinity. In the absence of spin, this reproduces results consistent with those in Isoyama et al. [``Flux-balance formulae'' for extreme mass-ratio inspirals, Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2019, 013E01 (2019).]. To linear order in spin, we construct flux-balance laws for four of the five constants of motion for spinning bodies in the Kerr spacetime, although not in a practical form. However, this result provides a promising path toward deriving the flux-balance law for the (generalized) Carter constant.

Physical review. D/Physical review. D.Vol. 111(8)
University of Southampton (GB)
Royal Society
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
9.24
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Flux-balance laws for spinning bodies under the gravitational self-force — Alexander M. Grant · Physical review. D/Physical review. D. (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS