Non-Conservative Mechanics in the Compact-Body Mass-Shell Model and its Waveform Structuring

Noah M. MacKay

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arXiv · 2609.21119

Non-Conservative Mechanics in the Compact-Body Mass-Shell Model and its Waveform Structuring

Noah M. MacKay

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Abstract

A novel reinterpretation on the effective one-body (EOB) mapping of compact-body binary (CBB) coalescence was previously considered. Instead of the conventional ``marble in a funnel" description of EOB, CBB coalescence is modeled as the concurrent rotation and contraction of a hollow shell with a constant reduced mass measure. Merger is achieved, therefore, when the shell radius reaches the total mass radius. While past works analyzed the energetics sector of the model and the radiated gravitational waves (GWs), this work considers the geometric waveform modeling aspect. More specifically, we mature the mass-shell waveform analysis initially discussed with toy-model conditions by imposing necessary non-conservative mechanics, leading to the analytical expression of usable mass-shell modeled GW-forms. This is to set the foundation for eventual computational endeavors with the analytical waveforms presented here, enabling a comparison against current and state-of-the-art models.

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Noah M. MacKay. 2026-09-17. Non-Conservative Mechanics in the Compact-Body Mass-Shell Model and its Waveform Structuring. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.21119

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