2,769 research outputs found
Gravitational radiation reaction in the equations of motion of compact binaries to 3.5 post-Newtonian order
We compute the radiation reaction force on the orbital motion of compact
binaries to the 3.5 post-Newtonian (3.5PN) approximation, i.e. one PN order
beyond the dominant effect. The method is based on a direct PN iteration of the
near-zone metric and equations of motion of an extended isolated system, using
appropriate ``asymptotically matched'' flat-space-time retarded potentials. The
formalism is subsequently applied to binary systems of point particles, with
the help of the Hadamard self-field regularisation. Our result is the 3.5PN
acceleration term in a general harmonic coordinate frame. Restricting the
expression to the centre-of-mass frame, we find perfect agreement with the
result derived in a class of coordinate systems by Iyer and Will using the
energy and angular momentum balance equations.Comment: 28 pages, references added, to appear in Classical and Quantum
Gravit
Gravitational waves from black hole binary inspiral and merger: The span of third post-Newtonian effective-one-body templates
We extend the description of gravitational waves emitted by binary black
holes during the final stages of inspiral and merger by introducing in the
third post-Newtonian (3PN) effective-one-body (EOB) templates seven new
``flexibility'' parameters that affect the two-body dynamics and gravitational
radiation emission. The plausible ranges of these flexibility parameters,
notably the parameter characterising the fourth post-Newtonian effects in the
dynamics, are estimated. Using these estimates, we show that the currently
available standard 3PN bank of EOB templates does ``span'' the space of signals
opened up by all the flexibility parameters, in that their maximized mutual
overlaps are larger than 96.5%. This confirms the effectualness of 3PN EOB
templates for the detection of binary black holes in gravitational-wave data
from interferometric detectors. The possibility to drastically reduce the
number of EOB templates using a few ``universal'' phasing functions is
suggested.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables, with revtex4, Minor clarifications,
Final published versio
Dimensional regularization of the third post-Newtonian dynamics of point particles in harmonic coordinates
Dimensional regularization is used to derive the equations of motion of two
point masses in harmonic coordinates. At the third post-Newtonian (3PN)
approximation, it is found that the dimensionally regularized equations of
motion contain a pole part [proportional to 1/(d-3)] which diverges as the
space dimension d tends to 3. It is proven that the pole part can be
renormalized away by introducing suitable shifts of the two world-lines
representing the point masses, and that the same shifts renormalize away the
pole part of the "bulk" metric tensor g_munu(x). The ensuing, finite
renormalized equations of motion are then found to belong to the general
parametric equations of motion derived by an extended Hadamard regularization
method, and to uniquely determine the heretofore unknown 3PN parameter lambda
to be: lambda = - 1987/3080. This value is fully consistent with the recent
determination of the equivalent 3PN static ambiguity parameter, omega_s = 0, by
a dimensional-regularization derivation of the Hamiltonian in
Arnowitt-Deser-Misner coordinates. Our work provides a new, powerful check of
the consistency of the dimensional regularization method within the context of
the classical gravitational interaction of point particles.Comment: 82 pages, LaTeX 2e, REVTeX 4, 8 PostScript figures, minor changes to
reflect Phys. Rev. D versio
Gravitational-Wave Inspiral of Compact Binary Systems to 7/2 Post-Newtonian Order
The inspiral of compact binaries, driven by gravitational-radiation reaction,
is investigated through 7/2 post-Newtonian (3.5PN) order beyond the quadrupole
radiation. We outline the derivation of the 3.5PN-accurate binary's
center-of-mass energy and emitted gravitational flux. The analysis consistently
includes the relativistic effects in the binary's equations of motion and
multipole moments, as well as the contributions of tails, and tails of tails,
in the wave zone. However the result is not fully determined because of some
physical incompleteness, present at the 3PN order, of the model of
point-particle and the associated Hadamard-type self-field regularization. The
orbital phase, whose prior knowledge is crucial for searching and analyzing the
inspiral signal, is computed from the standard energy balance argument.Comment: 12 pages, version which includes the correction of an Erratum to be
published in Phys. Rev. D (2005
Innermost circular orbit of binary black holes at the third post-Newtonian approximation
The equations of motion of two point masses have recently been derived at the
3PN approximation of general relativity. From that work we determine the
location of the innermost circular orbit or ICO, defined by the minimum of the
binary's 3PN energy as a function of the orbital frequency for circular orbits.
We find that the post-Newtonian series converges well for equal masses. Spin
effects appropriate to corotational black-hole binaries are included. We
compare the result with a recent numerical calculation of the ICO in the case
of two black holes moving on exactly circular orbits (helical symmetry). The
agreement is remarkably good, indicating that the 3PN approximation is adequate
to locate the ICO of two black holes with comparable masses. This conclusion is
reached with the post-Newtonian expansion expressed in the standard Taylor
form, without using resummation techniques such as Pad\'e approximants and/or
effective-one-body methods.Comment: 21 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev. D (spin effects appropriate to
corotational black-hole binaries are included; discussion on the validity of
the approximation is added
The labour market after age 50: some elements of a Franco-American comparison
This paper examines various supply and demand side aspects of the French labour market for older workers and puts them in perspective by comparing them to the US case. We first consider the supply side incentives (or disincentives) of basic pension schemes for the two countries : for France, we discuss how these incentives have been changed by the 1993 and 2003 pension reforms and we present some projections of the impact of these reforms on labour force participation rates, based on the DESTINIE dynamic microsimulation model. We then discuss, on the demand side, the hypothesis of a wage-productivity gap for older workers which could explain their lower employment rates. Evidence in favor of this hypothesis is not overwhelming. Nevertheless, workers who lose their jobs at older ages probably suffer a large loss of firm-specific and sector-specific human capital. In the US, this does not preclude re-employment, but at the cost of significant drops of wage levels. In France, the collective choice has been made since the 1970s to allow older workers who lose their jobs to completely withdraw from the labour market : these workers have access to preretirement schemes or specific dispositions of unemployment insurance (including an exemption from seeking employment). This system proved difficult to regulate. Due to these difficulties, France has not been able to do more than stabilize the employment rate in the 55-64 age bracket during the 1990s, after 20 years of continuous decline. The key unanswered question is whether it will be possible to increase the employment rate of this age group in the next two decades.Pensions, preretirement, senior workers
Post-Newtonian approximation for isolated systems calculated by matched asymptotic expansions
Two long-standing problems with the post-Newtonian approximation for isolated
slowly-moving systems in general relativity are: (i) the appearance at high
post-Newtonian orders of divergent Poisson integrals, casting a doubt on the
soundness of the post-Newtonian series; (ii) the domain of validity of the
approximation which is limited to the near-zone of the source, and prevents
one, a priori, from incorporating the condition of no-incoming radiation, to be
imposed at past null infinity. In this article, we resolve the problem (i) by
iterating the post-Newtonian hierarchy of equations by means of a new
(Poisson-type) integral operator that is free of divergencies, and the problem
(ii) by matching the post-Newtonian near-zone field to the exterior field of
the source, known from previous work as a multipolar-post-Minkowskian expansion
satisfying the relevant boundary conditions at infinity. As a result, we obtain
an algorithm for iterating the post-Newtonian series up to any order, and we
determine the terms, present in the post-Newtonian field, that are associated
with the gravitational-radiation reaction onto an isolated slowly-moving matter
system.Comment: 61 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Lorentzian regularization and the problem of point-like particles in general relativity
The two purposes of the paper are (1) to present a regularization of the
self-field of point-like particles, based on Hadamard's concept of ``partie
finie'', that permits in principle to maintain the Lorentz covariance of a
relativistic field theory, (2) to use this regularization for defining a model
of stress-energy tensor that describes point-particles in post-Newtonian
expansions (e.g. 3PN) of general relativity. We consider specifically the case
of a system of two point-particles. We first perform a Lorentz transformation
of the system's variables which carries one of the particles to its rest frame,
next implement the Hadamard regularization within that frame, and finally come
back to the original variables with the help of the inverse Lorentz
transformation. The Lorentzian regularization is defined in this way up to any
order in the relativistic parameter 1/c^2. Following a previous work of ours,
we then construct the delta-pseudo-functions associated with this
regularization. Using an action principle, we derive the stress-energy tensor,
made of delta-pseudo-functions, of point-like particles. The equations of
motion take the same form as the geodesic equations of test particles on a
fixed background, but the role of the background is now played by the
regularized metric.Comment: 34 pages, to appear in J. Math. Phy
Time-symmetric initial data for binary black holes in numerical relativity
We look for physically realistic initial data in numerical relativity which
are in agreement with post-Newtonian approximations. We propose a particular
solution of the time-symmetric constraint equation, appropriate to two
momentarily static black holes, in the form of a conformal decomposition of the
spatial metric. This solution is isometric to the post-Newtonian metric up to
the 2PN order. It represents a non-linear deformation of the solution of Brill
and Lindquist, i.e. an asymptotically flat region is connected to two
asymptotically flat (in a certain weak sense) sheets, that are the images of
the two singularities through appropriate inversion transformations. The total
ADM mass M as well as the individual masses m_1 and m_2 (when they exist) are
computed by surface integrals performed at infinity. Using second order
perturbation theory on the Brill-Lindquist background, we prove that the
binary's interacting mass-energy M-m_1-m_2 is well-defined at the 2PN order and
in agreement with the known post-Newtonian result.Comment: 27 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev.
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