Gravitational radiation contributions to the two-body scattering angle

TL;DR

This paper calculates the impact of gravitational radiation, including memory and radiation reaction effects, on the two-body scattering angle, advancing the precision of gravitational interaction models.

Contribution

It provides the first direct computation of radiative contributions to the scattering angle at high post-Newtonian and post-Minkowskian orders from equations of motion.

Findings

Radiative effects significantly influence the scattering angle.

Includes nonlinear memory and radiation reaction effects.

Completes the missing ingredients for high-order gravitational scattering calculations.

Abstract

We compute the contribution to the two-body scattering angle of a specific class of interactions involving the exchange of gravitational radiative degrees of freedom, including the nonlinear memory process and square of radiation reaction effects. Our computation is performed directly from the equations of motion, thus computing the overall effect of both conservative and dissipative processes. Such contributions provide in principle the last missing ingredients to compute the scattering angle at fifth post-Newtonian, at fourth post-Minkowskian order.