2002/07/02 by Neil J. Cornish, Cornish, Neil J., Janna Levin +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #History and Developments in Astronomy #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.gr-qc/0207016
5 pages
arxiv created 2002/07/02 · openalex publication_date 2002/07/02 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Binary systems of rapidly spinning compact objects, such as black holes or neutron stars, are prime targets for gravitational wave astronomers. The dynamics of these systems can be very complicated due to spin-orbit and spin-spin couplings. Contradictory results have been presented as to the nature of the dynamics. Here we confirm that the dynamics - as described by the second post-Newtonian approximation to general relativity - is chaotic, despite claims to the contrary. When dissipation due to higher order radiation reaction terms are included, the chaos is dampened. However, the inspiral-to-plunge transition that occurs toward the end of the orbital evolution does retain an imprint of the chaotic behaviour.