Self-force on a scalar charge in a circular orbit about a Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m black hole

TL;DR

This paper calculates the self-force on a scalar charge orbiting a Reissner-Nordström black hole, revealing differences from post-Newtonian predictions and showing how fluxes depend on the black hole's charge-to-mass ratio.

Contribution

It provides the first mode-sum calculation of the scalar self-force in Reissner-Nordström spacetime, contrasting with previous post-Newtonian results and analyzing flux dependence on charge-to-mass ratio.

Findings

Self-force and fluxes depend only on charge-to-mass ratio.

Results differ from recent post-Newtonian calculations.

Fluxes decrease monotonically as black hole approaches extremality.

Abstract

Motivated by applications to the study of self-force effects in scalar-tensor theories of gravity, we calculate the self-force exerted on a scalar charge in a circular orbit about a Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m black hole. We obtain the self-force via a mode-sum calculation, and find that our results differ from recent post-Newtonian calculations even in the slow-motion regime. We compute the radiative fluxes towards infinity and down the black hole, and verify that they are balanced by energy dissipated through the local self-force - in contrast to the reported post-Newtonian results. The self-force and radiative fluxes depend solely on the black hole's charge-to-mass ratio, the controlling parameter of the Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m geometry. They both monotonically decrease as the black hole reaches extremality. With respect to an extremality parameter $\epsilon$, the energy flux through the event horizon is found to scale as $\sim \epsilon^{5/4}$ as $\epsilon \rightarrow 0$.