English

Adiabatic evolution due to the conservative scalar self-force during orbital resonances

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2022-09-27 v2

Abstract

We calculate the scalar self-force experienced by a scalar point-charge orbiting a Kerr black hole along rθr\theta-resonant geodesics. We use the self-force to calculate the averaged rate of change of the charge's orbital energy E˙\langle\dot{E}\rangle, angular momentum L˙z\langle\dot{L}_z\rangle, and Carter constant Q˙\langle\dot{Q}\rangle, which together capture the leading-order adiabatic, secular evolution of the point-charge. Away from resonances, only the dissipative (time anti-symmetric) components of the self-force contribute to E˙\langle\dot{E}\rangle, L˙z\langle\dot{L}_z\rangle, and Q˙\langle\dot{Q}\rangle. We demonstrate, using a new numerical code, that during rθr\theta resonances conservative (time symmetric) scalar perturbations also contribute to Q˙\langle\dot{Q}\rangle and, thus, help drive the adiabatic evolution of the orbit. Furthermore, we observe that the relative impact of these conservative contributions to Q˙\langle\dot{Q}\rangle is particularly strong for eccentric 2:3 resonances. These results provide the first conclusive numerical evidence that conservative scalar perturbations of Kerr spacetime are non-integrable during rθr\theta resonances.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2207.02224,
  title  = {Adiabatic evolution due to the conservative scalar self-force during orbital resonances},
  author = {Zachary Nasipak},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2207.02224},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

30 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables; Updated to reflect published version