1995/06/08 by Fintan D. Ryan · 5 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Mechanics and Biomechanics Studies #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.52.r3159
published as Phys.Rev.D52:3159-3162,1995 · 12 pages
arxiv created 1995/06/08 · openalex publication_date 1995/09/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The effect of gravitational radiation reaction on circular orbits around a spinning (Kerr) black hole is computed to leading order in S (the magnitude of the spin angular momentum of the hole) and in the strength of gravity M/r (where M is the mass of the black hole, r is the orbital radius, and G=c=1). The radiation reaction makes the orbit shrink but leaves it circular and drives the orbital plane very slowly toward antialignment with the spin of the hole: tan(\ensuremathι/2)=tan(\mathrm\ensuremathι0/2)[1+(61/72)(S/M2)(M/r)3/2], where \ensuremathι is the angle between the normal to the orbital plane and the spin direction, and \mathrm\ensuremathι0 is the initial value of \ensuremathι, when r is very large.