Enhanced plateau effect at resonance in realistic non-integrable EMRIs

TL;DR

This paper investigates the resonance plateau effect in extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs) within perturbed Kerr black hole fields, showing that realistic self-force models lead to longer resonance durations than approximate kludge models.

Contribution

It demonstrates that realistic self-force calculations result in more prolonged resonance effects in EMRIs compared to previous approximate models.

Findings

Longer resonance plateau durations observed with self-force models.

Realistic models show more accurate resonance behavior.

Implications for gravitational wave signal modeling.

Abstract

When an EMRI in a perturbed integrable gravitational field, such as a deformed Kerr black hole, undergoes a prolonged resonance, the frequencies that engage in resonance retain a fixed rational ratio, despite experiencing adiabatic changes due to radiation reaction. In the past this plateau effect in the evolution of the ratio of frequencies has been investigated by studying the orbital evolution through kludge models, which provide approximate average losses of energy and angular momentum experienced by a test particle in this field. By employing a Newtonian gravitational field that closely resembles a pure Kerr or a perturbed Kerr relativistic field, we demonstrate that the actual adiabatic evolution of an orbit driven by an artificial ``self-force'' results in more prolonged periods of resonance crossings compared to those obtained by imposing a predetermined rate of energy and angular momentum change throughout the orbital progression.