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The principal subject of this thesis is the gravitational two-body problem in the extreme-mass-ratio regime---that is, where one mass is significantly smaller than the other---in the full context of our contemporary theory of gravity,…
We argue that conservation laws based on the local matter-only stress-energy-momentum tensor (characterized by energy and momentum per unit volume) cannot adequately explain a wide variety of even very simple physical phenomena because they…
The motion of sufficiently small body in general relativity should be accurately described by a geodesic. However, there should be ``gravitational self-force'' corrections to geodesic motion, analogous to the ``radiation reaction forces''…
Considering extreme-mass-ratio inspirals along with the conservative dynamics of gravitational self-force, we compare viable theories of gravity. In particular, by examining a Schwarzschild background we analyse the self-force-induced…
A simple general relativity theory for objects moving in gravitational fields is developed based on studying the behavior of an atom in a gravitational field. The theory is applied to calculate the satellite time dilation, light deflection…
The self-force describes the effect of a particle's own gravitational field on its motion. While the motion is geodesic in the test-mass limit, it is accelerated to first order in the particle's mass. In this contribution I review the…
The energy of gravitational waves is a fundamental problem in gravity theory. The existing descriptions for the energy of gravitational waves, such as the well-known Isaacson energy-momentum tensor, suffer from several defects. Due to the…
We derive an expression for the second-order gravitational self-force that acts on a self-gravitating compact-object moving in a curved background spacetime. First we develop a new method of derivation and apply it to the derivation of the…
Extreme mass-ratio inspirals, in which solar-mass compact bodies spiral into supermassive black holes, are an important potential source for gravitational wave detectors. Because of the extreme mass-ratio, one can model these systems using…
Using a rigorous method of matched asymptotic expansions, I derive the equation of motion of a small, compact body in an external vacuum spacetime through second order in the body's mass (neglecting effects of internal structure). The…
When a small, uncharged, compact object is immersed in an external background spacetime, at zeroth order in its mass it moves as a test particle in the background. At linear order, its own gravitational field alters the geometry around it,…
Quasilocal definitions of stress-energy-momentum---that is, in the form of boundary densities (in lieu of local volume densities)---have proven generally very useful in formulating and applying conservation laws in general relativity. In…
A point particle of mass $\mu$ moving on a geodesic creates a perturbation $h_{ab}$, of the spacetime metric $g_{ab}$, that diverges at the particle. Simple expressions are given for the singular $\mu/r$ part of $h_{ab}$ and its distortion…
There is general agreement that the MiSaTaQuWa equations should describe the motion of a "small body" in general relativity, taking into account the leading order self-force effects. However, previous derivations of these equations have…
We construct a general relativistic conservation law for linear and angular momentum for matter and gravitational fields in a finite volume of space that does not rely on any spacetime symmetries. This work builds on our previous…
In this work we present the first calculation of the gravitational self-force on generic bound geodesics in Kerr spacetime to first order in the mass-ratio. That is, the local correction to equations of motion for a compact object orbiting…
Gravitational radiation with roughly spherical wavefronts, produced by roughly spherical black holes or other astrophysical objects, is described by an approximation scheme. The first quasi-spherical approximation, describing radiation…
The gravitational field of a particle of small mass $\mu$ moving through curved spacetime, with metric $g_{ab}$, is naturally and easily decomposed into two parts each of which satisfies the perturbed Einstein equations through $O(\mu)$.…
The "external" or "bulk" motion of extended bodies is studied in general relativity. Compact material objects of essentially arbitrary shape, spin, internal composition, and velocity are allowed as long as there is no direct…
We derive exact, modified geodesic equations for a system of non-spinning, self-gravitating interacting bodies in a class of alternative theories of gravity to general relativity. We use a prescription proposed by Eardley for incorporating…