The gravitational Compton amplitude from flat and curved spacetimes at second post-Minkowskian order

TL;DR

This paper computes the classical gravitational Compton amplitude at second post-Minkowskian order using advanced techniques in flat and curved spacetimes, demonstrating the effectiveness of worldline quantum field theory for complex gravitational calculations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of worldline quantum field theory in curved backgrounds to calculate gravitational amplitudes at second post-Minkowskian order.

Findings

Supports the use of worldline QFT in curved spacetimes for gravitational calculations

Provides new theoretical insights into binary black hole mergers

Enhances computational methods for gravitational wave physics

Abstract

We utilize various computational techniques in flat and curved backgrounds to calculate the classical gravitational Compton amplitude up to the second post-Minkowskian order. Our novel result supports the use of worldline quantum field theory in non-trivial background spacetimes to obtain new theoretical insights that can both enhance computational efficiency and provide useful cross-checks of results, particularly in the context of classical binary black hole mergers.