2005/11/30 by Dörte Hansen
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Fluid dynamics and aerodynamics studies #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s10714-006-0311-4
published as Gen.Rel.Grav. 38 (2006) 1173-1208 · 31 pages, 7 figures, typos corrected
arxiv created 2005/12/19 · openalex publication_date 2006/06/27 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
An approximate strategy for studying the evolution of binary systems of extended objects is introduced. The stars are assumed to be polytropic ellipsoids. The surfaces of constant density maintain their ellipsoidal shape during the time evolution. The equations of hydrodynamics then reduce to a system of ordinary differential equations for the internal velocities, the principal axes of the stars and the orbital parameters. The equations of motion are given within Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism. The special case when both stars are axially symmetric fluid configurations is considered. Leading order gravitational radiation reaction is incorporated, where the quasi-static approximation is applied to the internal degrees of freedom of the stars. The influence of the stellar parameters, in particular the influence of the polytropic index n, on the leading order gravitational waveforms is studied.