Self-force correction to the deflection angle in black-hole scattering: a scalar charge toy model

TL;DR

This paper calculates how a scalar charge's self-force affects the scattering angle of a particle around a Schwarzschild black hole, providing insights relevant for gravitational self-force corrections in binary black hole systems.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical method to compute the scalar self-force correction to scattering angles, applicable to strong-field and weak-field regimes, and discusses extensions to gravitational self-force calculations.

Findings

Self-force modifies scattering angle proportionally to Q^2.

Good agreement with post-Minkowskian results in weak-field limit.

Derived expressions relate self-force integrals to scattering angle corrections.

Abstract

Using self-force methods, we consider the hyperbolic-type scattering of a pointlike particle carrying a scalar charge $Q$ off a Schwarzschild black hole. For given initial velocity and impact parameter, back-reaction from the scalar field modifies the scattering angle by an amount $\propto\! Q^2$, which we calculate numerically for a large sample of orbits (neglecting the gravitational self-force). Our results probe both strong-field and field-weak scenarios, and in the latter case we find a good agreement with post-Minkowskian expressions. The scalar-field self-force has a component tangent to the four-velocity that exchanges particle's mass with scalar-field energy, and we also compute this mass exchange as a function along the orbit. The expressions we derive for the scattering angle (in terms of certain integrals of the self-force along the orbit) can be used to obtain the gravitational self-force correction to the angle in the physical problem of a binary black hole with a large mass ratio. We discuss the remaining steps necessary to achieve this goal.