Speaker:  Steve Detweiler

Title:  "Radiation Reaction in General Relativity"

ABSTRACT

An infinitesimal particle of mass µ moving on a geodesic through a spacetime
metric g^0 creates a perturbation h^µ that diverges on the geodesic. Simple
expressions are given for the singular µ/r part of h^µ and its quadrupole
distortion caused by the spacetime. When these are subtracted from h^µ the
remainder h^R is C^1. And, the effects of radiation reaction correct the
worldline at O(µ) to be a geodesic of g^0 + h^R . For the case that the
particle is a small black hole, an approximate solution to the Einstein
equations is given with error of O(µ^2) outside the black hole as µ --> 0.