post-Minkowskian Expansion Research Articles

Classifying post-Minkowskian geometries for gravitational waves via loop-by-loop Baikov

We use the loop-by-loop Baikov representation to investigate the geometries in Feynman integrals contributing to the classical dynamics of a black-hole two-body system in the post-Minkowskian expansion of general relativity. These geometries determine the spaces of functions to which the corresponding Feynman diagrams evaluate. As a proof of principle, we provide a full classification of the geometries appearing up to three loops, i.e. fourth post-Minkowskian order, for all diagrams relevant to the conservative as well as the dissipative dynamics, finding full agreement with the literature. Moreover, we show that the non-planar top topology at four loops, which is the most complicated sector with respect to integration-by-parts identities, has an algebraic leading singularity and thus can only depend on non-trivial geometries through its subsectors.

Spinning binary dynamics in cubic effective field theories of gravity

We study the binary dynamics of two Kerr black holes with arbitrary spin vectors in the presence of parity-even and parity-odd cubic deformations of gravity. We first derive the tree-level Compton amplitudes for a Kerr black hole in cubic gravity, which we then use to compute the two-to-two amplitudes of the massive bodies to leading order in the deformation and the post-Minkowskian expansion. The required one-loop computations are performed using the leading singularity approach as well as the heavy-mass effective field theory (HEFT) approach. These amplitudes are then used to compute the leading-order momentum and spin kick in cubic gravity in the KMOC formalism. Our results are valid for generic masses and spin vectors, and include all the independent parity-even and parity-odd cubic deformations of Einstein-Hilbert gravity. We also present spin-expanded expressions for the momentum and spin kicks, and the all-order in spin deflection angle in the case of aligned spins.

Black hole scattering near the transition to plunge: Self-force and resummation of post-Minkowskian theory

Geodesic scattering of a test particle off a Schwarzschild black hole can be parametrized by the speed-at-infinity v and the impact parameter b, with a “separatrix,” b=bc(v), marking the threshold between scattering and plunge. Near the separatrix, the scattering angle diverges as ∼log(b−bc). The self-force correction to the scattering angle (at fixed v, b) diverges even faster, like ∼A1(v)bc/(b−bc). Here we numerically calculate the divergence coefficient A1(v) in a scalar-charge toy model. We then use our knowledge of A1(v) to inform a resummation of the post-Minkowskian expansion for the scattering angle, and demonstrate that the resummed series agrees remarkably well with numerical self-force results even in the strong-field regime. We propose that a similar resummation technique, applied to a mass particle subject to a gravitational self-force, can significantly enhance the utility and regime of validity of post-Minkowskian calculations for black-hole scattering. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Spinning waveforms from the Kosower-Maybee-O’Connell formalism at leading order

We provide the analytic waveform in time domain for the scattering of two Kerr black holes at leading order in the post-Minkowskian (weak field, but generic velocity) expansion and up to fourth order in both spins. The result is obtained by the generalization of the Kosower-Maybee-O’Connell formalism to radiative observables, combined with the analytic continuation of the five-point scattering amplitude to complex kinematics. We use analyticity arguments to express the waveform directly in terms of the three-point coupling of the graviton to the spinning particles and the gravitational Compton amplitudes, completely bypassing the need to compute and integrate the five-point amplitude. In particular, this allows us to easily include higher-order spin contributions for any spinning compact body. Finally, in the spinless case, we find a new compact and gauge-invariant representation of the Kovacs-Thorne waveform. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Calabi-Yau periods for black hole scattering in classical general relativity

The high-precision description of black hole scattering in classical general relativity using the post-Minkowskian (PM) expansion requires the evaluation of single-scale Feynman integrals at increasing loop orders. Up to 4PM, the scattering angle and the impulse are expressible in terms of polylogarithmic functions and Calabi-Yau (CY) twofold periods. As in QFT, periods of higher dimensional CY n-folds are expected at higher PM order. We find at 5PM in the dissipative leading order self-force sector (5PM-1SF) that the only nonpolylogarithmic functions are the K3 periods encountered before and the ones of a new hypergeometric CY threefold. In the 5PM-2SF sector further CY twofold and threefold periods appear. Griffiths transversality of the CY period motives allows one to transform the differential equations for the master integrals into ε-factorized form and to solve them in terms of a well-controlled function space, as we demonstrate in the 5PM-1SF sector. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Calabi-Yau Meets Gravity: A Calabi-Yau Threefold at Fifth Post-Minkowskian Order.

We study geometries occurring in Feynman integrals that contribute to the scattering of black holes in the post-Minkowskian (PM) expansion. These geometries become relevant to gravitational-wave production from binary mergers through the classical conservative potential. At 4PM, a K3 surface is known to occur in a three-loop integral, leading to elliptic integrals in the result. In this Letter, we identify a Calabi-Yau threefold in a four-loop integral, contributing at 5PM. The presence of this Calabi-Yau geometry indicates that completely new functions occur in the full analytical results.

Angular momentum loss due to spin-orbit effects in the post-Minkowskian expansion

Angular momentum loss due to spin-orbit effects in the post-Minkowskian expansion

Classical observables from the exponential representation of the gravitational S-matrix

By combining the KMOC-formalism with the exponential representation of the scattering matrix we show that the two-body scattering angle is given by the corresponding matrix element of the exponential representation. This holds to all orders in the Post-Minkowskian expansion of gravity when restricted to the conservative sector. Once gravitational radiation is taken into account new terms correcting this relationship appear starting at fourth Post-Minkowskian order. A systematic expansion of the momentum kick is provided to any order, thus illustrating the iterative structure that partly recycles terms from lower orders in the Post-Minkowskian expansion. We provide explicit results for this computation to fourth Post-Minkowskian order, the first complete calculation at this order based on scattering amplitudes.

A Rutherford-like formula for scattering off Kerr-Newman BHs and subleading corrections

By exploiting the Kerr-Schild gauge, we study the scattering of a massive (charged) scalar off a Kerr-Newman black hole. In this gauge, the interactions between the probe and the target involve only tri-linear vertices. We manage to write down the tree-level scattering amplitudes in analytic form, from which we can construct an expression for the eikonal phase which is exact in the spin of the black hole at arbitrary order in the Post-Minkowskian expansion. We compute the classical contribution to the cross-section and deflection angle at leading order for a Kerr black hole for arbitrary orientation of the spin. Finally, we test our method by reproducing the classical amplitude for a Schwarzschild black hole at second Post-Minkowskian order and outline how to extend the analysis to the Kerr-Newman case.

Bootstrapping the relativistic two-body problem

We describe the formalism to compute gravitational-wave observables for compact binaries via the effective field theory framework in combination with modern tools from collider physics. We put particular emphasis on solving the ‘multi-loop’ integration problem via the methodology of differential equations and expansion by regions. This allows us to bootstrap the two-body relativistic dynamics in the Post-Minkowskian (PM) expansion from boundary data evaluated in the near-static (soft) limit. We illustrate the procedure with the derivation of the total spacetime impulse in the scattering of non-spinning bodies to 4PM (three-loop) order, i.e. mathcal{O} (G4), including conservative and dissipative effects.

Angular Momentum Loss due to Tidal Effects in the Post-Minkowskian Expansion.

We calculate the tidal corrections to the loss of angular momentum in a two-body collision at leading post-Minkowskian order from an amplitude-based approach. The eikonal operator allows us to efficiently combine elastic and inelastic amplitudes, and captures both the contributions due to genuine gravitational-wave emissions and those due to the static gravitational field. We calculate the former by harnessing powerful collider-physics techniques such as reverse unitarity, thereby reducing them to cut two-loop integrals, and cross check the result by performing an independent calculation in the post-Newtonian limit. For the latter, we can employ the results of P. Di Vecchia et al. [Angular momentum of zero-frequency gravitons, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2022) 172.JHEPFG1029-847910.1007/JHEP08(2022)172], where static-field effects were calculated for generic gravitational scattering events using the leading soft graviton theorem.

One-loop gravitational bremsstrahlung and waveforms from a heavy-mass effective field theory

Using a heavy-mass effective field theory (HEFT), we study gravitational-wave emission in the scattering of two spinless black holes or neutron stars of arbitrary masses at next-to-leading order in the Post-Minkowskian expansion. We compute the contributions to the one-loop scattering amplitude with four scalars and one graviton which are relevant to the calculation of the waveforms, also presenting expressions of classical tree-level amplitudes with four scalars and up to two radiated gravitons. The latter are obtained using a novel on-shell recursion relation for classical amplitudes with four scalars and an arbitrary number of gravitons. Our one-loop five-point amplitude is expressed in terms of a single family of master integrals with the principal value prescription for linearised massive propagators, which we evaluate using differential equations. In our HEFT approach, soft/heavy-mass expansions of complete integrands are avoided, and all hyper-classical iterations and quantum corrections are dropped at the diagrammatic level, thereby computing directly contributions to classical physics. Our result exhibits the expected factorisation of infrared divergences, the correct soft limits, and highly nontrivial cancellations of spurious poles. Finally, using our amplitude result we compute numerically the corresponding next-to-leading corrections to the spectral waveforms and the far-field time-domain waveforms using the Newman-Penrose scalar Ψ4.

Binary dynamics from worldline QFT for scalar QED

We investigate the worldline quantum field theory (WQFT) formalism for scalar QED and observe that a generating function emerges from WQFT, from which the scattering angle ensues. This generating function bears important similarities to the radial action in that it requires no consideration of exponentiation of lower-order contributions. We demonstrate the computations of this generating function and the resulting scattering angle of a binary system coupled to an electromagnetic field up to the third order in the post-Minkowskian expansion.

The quadrupole moment of compact binaries to the fourth post-Newtonian order: relating the harmonic and radiative metrics

Motivated by the completion of the fourth post-Newtonian (4PN) gravitational-wave generation from compact binary systems, we analyse and contrast different constructions of the metric outside an isolated system, using post-Minkowskian (PM) expansions. The metric in ‘harmonic’ coordinates has been investigated previously, in particular to compute tails and memory effects. However, it is plagued by powers of the logarithm of the radial distance r when (with const). As a result, the tedious computation of the ‘tail-of-memory’ effect, which enters the gravitational-wave flux at 4PN order, is more efficiently performed in the so-called ‘radiative’ coordinates, which admit a (Bondi-type) expansion at infinity in simple powers of r −1, without any logarithms. Here we consider a particular construction, performed order by order in the PM expansion, which directly yields a metric in radiative coordinates. We relate both constructions, and prove that they are physically equivalent as soon as a relation between the ‘canonical’ moments which parametrize the radiative metric, and those parametrizing the harmonic metric, is verified. We provide the appropriate relation for the mass quadrupole moment at 4PN order, which will be crucial when deriving the ‘tail-of-memory’ contribution to the gravitational flux.

Radiated momentum and radiation reaction in gravitational two-body scattering including time-asymmetric effects

We compute to high post-Newtonian accuracy the 4-momentum (linear momentum, and energy), radiated as gravitational waves in a two-body system undergoing gravitational scattering. We include, for the first time, all the relevant {\it time-asymmetric} effects that arise when consistently going three post Newtonian orders beyond the leading post Newtonian order. We find that the inclusion of time-asymmetric radiative effects (both in tails and in the radiation-reacted hyperbolic motion) is crucial to ensure the mass-polynomiality of the post-Minkowskian expansion ($G$ expansion) of the radiated 4-momentum. Imposing the mass-polynomiality of the corresponding individual impulses determines the conservativelike radiative contributions at the fourth post-Minkowskian order, and strongly constrains them at the fifth post-Minkowskian order.

Scattering angles in Kerr metrics

Scattering angles for probes in Kerr metrics are derived for scattering in the equatorial plane of the black hole. We use a method that naturally resums all orders in the spin of the Kerr black hole, thus facilitating comparisons with scattering-angle computations based on the Post-Minkowskian expansion from scattering amplitudes or worldline calculations. We extend these results to spinning black-hole probes up to and including second order in the probe spin and any order in the Post- Minkowskian expansion, for probe spins aligned with the Kerr spin. When truncating to third Post-Minkowskian order, our results agree with those obtained by amplitude and worldline methods.

The Reissner-Nordström-Tangherlini solution from scattering amplitudes of charged scalars

The metric and the electromagnetic potential generated by a static, spherically symmetric charged massive object in any dimension are given by the Reissner-Nordström-Tangherlini solution. We derive the expansion of this solution up to third post-Minkowskian order by computing the classical contribution of scattering amplitudes describing the emission of either a graviton or a photon from a massive charged scalar field up to two loops. In four and five dimensions these amplitudes develop ultraviolet divergences that are cancelled by higher-derivative counterterms in a way that generalises what was recently shown to happen in the chargeless case. This renormalisation procedure produces logarithmic terms that match exactly those produced in the post-Minkowskian expansion of the classical solution in de Donder gauge.

Scalar QED as a toy model for higher-order effects in classical gravitational scattering

Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) serves as a useful toy model for classical observables in gravitational two-body systems with reduced complexity due to the linearity of QED. We investigate scattering observables in scalar QED at the sixth order in the charges (two-loop order) in a classical regime analogous to the post-Minkowskian expansion in General Relativity. We employ modern scattering amplitude tools and extract classical observables by both eikonal methods and the formalism of Kosower, Maybee, and O’Connell (KMOC). In addition, we provide a simplified approach to extracting the radial action beyond the conservative sector.

An S-matrix approach to gravitational-wave physics.

The detection of gravitational waves emitted by binary systems has opened a new astronomical window into the Universe. We describe recent advances in the field of scattering amplitudes applied to the post-Minkowskian expansion, and the extraction of the effective two-body gravitational potential. The techniques presented here apply to any effective field theory of gravity and are not restricted to four-dimensional Einstein gravity. This article is part of the theme issue 'The future of mathematical cosmology, Volume 2'.

The eikonal operator at arbitrary velocities I: the soft-radiation limit

Observables related to the real part of the gravitational eikonal, such as the deflection angle and time delay, have been found so far to have a smooth post-Minkowskian (PM) expansion whose validity extends from the non-relativistic to the most extreme ultra-relativistic (UR) regime, which smoothly connects with massless particle collisions. To describe gravitational radiation, the eikonal phase has to be promoted to a unitary operator for which we motivate a proposal and start discussing properties in the soft-radiation limit. A convergent PM expansion is found to only hold below an UR bound (discussed in the GR literature in the seventies) above which a different expansion is instead needed implying, in general, some non-analyticity in Newton’s constant. In this extreme UR regime soft radiative observables receive contributions only from gravitons and are therefore universal. This generalises the pattern discussed in [1] beyond the elastic case.