Examination of orbital evolution and gravitational waves of OJ 287 in the 4PN order

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the orbital evolution and gravitational wave emission of the supermassive black hole binary OJ 287 using 4PN order corrections, providing more accurate modeling of unstable orbits and gravitational wave signals.

Contribution

It introduces the application of 4PN corrections to orbital and gravitational wave analysis of OJ 287, improving accuracy over previous 3PN models.

Findings

4PN corrections yield more accurate unstable orbit analysis

Enhanced gravitational wave modeling during complete orbital evolution

Comparison shows 4PN improves energy and parameter estimates

Abstract

We computed the orbital evolution and the emitted gravitational radiation of the supermassive black hole binary OJ 287. Here we used the initial data provided by the outburst structure of the system. We considered the spin-spin, spin-orbit, and the next-to-next leading order fourth post-Newtonian (4PN) corrections in our analysis. In this way, we could make an accurate examination of unstable orbits ($3M < r <6M$) of the secondary black hole. We tested the 4PN terms by analyzing the total and radiated energy, compared the post-Newtonian parameters and the separation of the two black holes for 3PN and 4PN. In conclusion, the 4PN corrections provided a significantly more accurate tool for analyzing unstable orbits than earlier 3PN terms. Furthermore, in this paper, we show the gravitational waves emitted by OJ 287 during its complete orbital evolution including unstable orbits.