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arXiv · 2206.04085

Post-Newtonian expansion of the spin-precession invariant for eccentric-orbit non-spinning extreme-mass-ratio inspirals to 9PN and $e^{16}$

Christopher Munna·Charles R. Evans
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Abstract

We calculate the eccentricity dependence of the high-order post-Newtonian (PN) expansion of the spin-precession invariant $ψ$ for eccentric-orbit extreme-mass-ratio inspirals with a Schwarzschild primary. The series is calculated in first-order black hole perturbation theory through direct analytic expansion of solutions in the Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli formalism, using a code written in \textsc{Mathematica}. Modes with small values of $l$ are found via the Mano-Suzuki-Takasugi (MST) analytic function expansion formalism for solutions to the Regge-Wheeler equation. Large-$l$ solutions are found by applying a PN expansion ansatz to the Regge-Wheeler equation. Previous work has given $ψ$ to 9.5PN order and to order $e^2$ (i.e., the near circular orbit limit). We calculate the expansion to 9PN but to $e^{16}$ in eccentricity. It proves possible to find a few terms that have closed-form expressions, all of which are associated with logarithmic terms in the PN expansion. We also compare the numerical evaluation of our PN expansion to prior numerical calculations of $ψ$ in close orbits to assess its radius of convergence. We find that the series is not as rapidly convergent as the one for the redshift invariant at $r \simeq 10M$ but still yielding $\sim 1\%$ accuracy for eccentricities $e \lesssim 0.25$.

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Christopher Munna, Charles R. Evans. 2022-06-08. Post-Newtonian expansion of the spin-precession invariant for eccentric-orbit non-spinning extreme-mass-ratio inspirals to 9PN and $e^{16}$. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.106.044058

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