English

Binary Kerr black-hole scattering at 2PM from quantum higher-spin Compton

High Energy Physics - Theory 2025-06-27 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

Quantum higher-spin theory applied to Compton amplitudes has proven to be surprisingly useful for elucidating Kerr black hole dynamics. Here we apply the framework to compute scattering amplitudes and observables for a binary system of two rotating black holes, at second post-Minkowskian order, and to all orders in the spin-multipole expansion for certain quantities. Starting from the established three-point and conjectured Compton quantum amplitudes, the infinite-spin limit gives classical amplitudes that serves as building block that we feed into the unitarity method to construct the 2-to-2 one-loop amplitude. We give scalar box, vector box, and scalar triangle coefficients to all orders in spin, where the latter are expressed in terms of Bessel-like functions. Using the Kosower-Maybee-O'Connell formalism, the classical 2PM impulse is computed, and in parallel we work out the scattering angle and eikonal phase. We give novel all-orders-in-spin formulae for certain contributions, and the remaining ones are given up to O(S11){\cal O}(S^{11}). Since Kerr 2PM dynamics beyond O(S5){\cal O}(S^{\ge 5}) is as of yet not completely settled, this work serves as a useful reference for future studies.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2410.23271,
  title  = {Binary Kerr black-hole scattering at 2PM from quantum higher-spin Compton},
  author = {Lara Bohnenblust and Lucile Cangemi and Henrik Johansson and Paolo Pichini},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2410.23271},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

56 pages, 2 figures, ancillary files; v2: added references, minor corrections, updated ancillary file

R2 v1 2026-06-28T19:41:46.854Z