Physics

Academic science reflects the context in which science is conducted. Thus, the academic scientific enterprise struggles with privilege, racism, sexism, ableism, and homophobia, in Canada, as around the world. In this talk, I will address the uncomfortable and sometimes difficult conversations we must have in order to get to the real work of identifying and removing barriers that limit access and engagement in the scientific enterprise for the full diversity of humanity. We live within a myth of meritocracy in academia and are failing to achieve our full potential as a sector. Moving on from self-awareness as individuals or organizations, we can start to identify the tools and skill sets that individuals and collectives need in order to create cultures of care that achieve inclusive excellence and the very best scientific outputs.

The lowered accuracy requirements at second order in the mass ratio greatly increases the utility of high-order post-Newtonian calculations at post-adiabatic order. In this talk I will present a methodology for solving the first- and second-order field equations using matched asymptotic expansions. As an application and test of the method, we solve the scalar wave equation sourced by a first order solution to the Regge-Wheeler equation with a particle moving in a circular orbit, and thus provide a construction of an analytic expansions of the Lorenz gauge metric perturbation.

Reconstructing a metric or vector potential that corresponds to a given solution to the Teukolsky equation is an important problem for self-force calculations. Traditional reconstruction algorithms do not work in the presence of sources, and they give rise to solutions in a radiation gauge. In the electromagnetic case, however, Dolan (2019) and Wardell and Kavanagh (2020) very recently showed how to reconstruct a vector potential in Lorenz gauge, which is more convenient for self-force. Their algorithm is based on a new Hertz-potential 2-form. In this talk, I will first show that the electromagnetic Teukolsky formalism takes a simplified form when expressed in terms of differential forms and the exterior calculus. This formalism makes the new Lorenz-gauge construction much more transparent, and it enables an extension to nonzero sources. In particular, I will derive a corrector term, related to the charge current, which when added to the vector potential gives a solution to the Maxwell equations with nonzero source. I will conclude by discussing prospects for extending to the gravitational case.

We identify a set of Hertz potentials for solutions to the vector wave equation on black hole spacetimes. The Hertz potentials yield Lorenz gauge electromagnetic vector potentials that represent physical solutions to the Maxwell equations, satisfy the Teukolsky equation, and are related to the Maxwell scalars by straightforward and separable inversion relations. Our construction, based on the GHP formalism, avoids the need for a mode ansatz and leads to potentials that represent both static and non-static solutions. As an explicit example, we specialise the procedure to mode-decomposed perturbations of Kerr spacetime and in the process make connections with previous results.

Understanding extended sources is an important aspect of the second-order problem in Kerr. Metric reconstruction procedures based on the Teukolsky equation bring challenges at second order due to singularities in the radiation gauge. One approach would be to soften these singularities using an effective source derived from a puncture. I will describe how the corrector-tensor reconstruction algorithm may be applied in a puncture scheme with a spatially compact effective source. To illustrate the method I will use an example in flat spacetime which provides some insights into the structure of the problem in Kerr.

I outline an algorithm for obtaining the first order metric perturbation solving the linearized Einstein equations sourced by a point mass in (a) a no-string gauge and (b) the Lorentz gauge via a variant of the Teukolsky formalism. The aim is to suitably combine the attractive features of this formalism with the milder singularity structure and better localization properties of the solutions in the latter gauges. This part of our work is intended as a starting point for the second order self force problem and relies in an essential way on the recently introduced corrector formalism by Green, Hollands and Zimmerman.

With the publication of the first second-order self-force results, it has become even more clear of the need for fast and efficient calculations to avoid the computational expense encountered when using current methods in the Lorenz gauge. One ingredient for efficient calculation of second-order self-force data will be the use of the highly regular gauge (1703.02836 and 2101.11409) with its weaker divergences along the worldline of the small object. In this talk, we will present steps towards transforming the current Lorenz gauge data into the highly regular gauge to be used for quasicircular orbits in Schwarzschild spacetime. The end result will be a source that can be used as an input into the second-order Einstein equations (see talks by Andrew Spiers and Benjamin Leather). In particular, this will allow us to solve the second-order Teukolsky equation using a point particle source instead of requiring the use of a puncture scheme.

The first iteration of the second-order self-force calculation considered the problem in the Lorenz gauge. However, in the absence of a separable Lorenz gauge formalism for the astrophysical relevant scenario of Kerr spacetime, we are now pursuing a second-order calculation for the Teukolsky equation. In this talk I outline the numerical implementation to compute the second-order Weyl scalar. In lieu of the second-order Teukolsky source I will demonstrate the code by presenting results for the slow-time derivative of the (first-order) Weyl-scalar as this alternative calculation is structurally similar to the second-order calculation.

Precise parameter extraction from EMRI signals requires, among other things, the dissipative piece of the second-order self-force in a Kerr background. We have shown how a new form of the second-order Teukolsky equation has a well-defined source in a highly regular gauge, and how to construct gauge invariant second-order quantities using a gauge fixing method. For the current prospective second-order self-force methods in Kerr solving the second-order Teukolsky equation will be a crucial step. In this talk, I show our progress in calculating the source in the second-order Teukolsky equation for quasi-circular orbits in Schwarzschild, and discuss how the source can be made more regular at future null infinity by transforming to the Bondi-Sachs gauge.

One contribution to the second-order self-force calculations is the derivative of the first-order metric perturbation with respect to the slow inspiral time. Previous methods to compute this involve non-compact source terms which are challenging to work with. We employ the method of partial annihilators to obtain higher-order differential equations with a compact source, and solve these equations for the slowtime derivatives of the Regge-Wheeler and Zerilli master functions for circular orbits. We then use a gauge transformation to compute the slowtime derivative of the first-order Lorenz gauge metric perturbation.

Within the framework of self force theory we compute the gravitational wave flux through second-order in the mass ratio for quasi-circular compact binaries. Our results are consistent with post-Newtonian calculations in the weak field and we find they agree remarkably well with numerical relativity simulations of comparable mass binaries in the strong field. We also find good agreement for binaries with a spinning secondary or a slowly spinning primary.