Scattering of two spinning black holes in post-Minkowskian gravity

Particle Physics Theory seminar

Scattering of two spinning black holes in post-Minkowskian gravity

• Event time: 2:00pm
• Event date: 29th November 2017
• Speaker: Justin Vines (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute))
• Location: Higgs Centre Seminar Room, Room 4305,

Event details

The advent of gravitational-wave astronomy motivates detailed study of the classical gravitational dynamics of spinning black holes in binary systems.  Analytical calculations to those ends have traditionally focused on post-Newtonian perturbation theory (expansion in $1/c$), naturally paired with an expansion in low spins.  I will discuss a complimentary approach using post-Minkowskian perturbation theory (expansion in $G$, as is more natural in QFT), paired with a nonperturbative treatment of the spins.  New results for two-spinning-black-hole scattering at the first post-Minkowskian order, given in simple closed forms to all orders in spin, reveal remarkable relationships between arbitrary-mass-ratio two-body dynamics and test-body dynamics in a fixed background, and between the dynamics of spinning and nonspinning black holes.  In pushing toward higher orders in $G$, the field will doubtlessly benefit from bringing a wide range of techniques developed by particle physicists to bear on the problem of classical gravitational dynamics.