Comparison of 4.5PN and 2SF gravitational energy fluxes from quasicircular compact binaries

TL;DR

This paper compares gravitational energy flux calculations from two different perturbative approaches for quasicircular compact binaries, demonstrating their consistency and agreement.

Contribution

It provides the first direct comparison between 4.5PN and 2SF gravitational flux calculations, confirming their compatibility in modeling gravitational waves.

Findings

The 4.5PN and 2SF flux results agree within their respective regimes.

The comparison validates the consistency of different perturbative methods.

Results support the reliability of gravitational waveform models.

Abstract

Recent years have seen significant advances in models of gravitational waveforms emitted by quasicircular compact binaries in two regimes: the weak-field, post-Newtonian regime, in which the gravitational wave energy flux has now been calculated to fourth-and-a-half post-Newtonian order (4.5PN) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 131}, 121402 (2023)]; and the small-mass-ratio, gravitational self-force regime, in which the flux has now been calculated to second perturbative order in the mass ratio (2SF) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 151102 (2021)]. We compare these results and find agreement, showing consistency between the two (very distinct though both first-principle) perturbative calculations.