Last Modified: 2002 October 21
Charlie Torres / charlie@phys.utb.edu
The Inspiralling Black Hole Problem: Can it be Approximated?
Prof. Richard H. Price University of Utah
In Newtonian gravitational physics the "two body problem," the problem of two objects spiralling around each other, can be solved completely and neatly. By contrast, in Einstein's theory of gravitation this problem cannot yet be solved, even with supercomputers. The main difference is that there are gravitational waves generated in Einstein's theory but not in Newton's. This has blocked progress on understanding the way two black holes orbit around each other, a problem of great current importance. A new approximation will be described that does not ignore the gravitational waves, but ignores their effect on the orbital motion. This approximation offers some hope that a solution of the two black hole problem may not be far off.