Post-Newtonian gravitational bremsstrahlung

Abstract

Formulas and numerical results for the gravitational radiation emitted during a low-deflection encounter between two massive bodies are presented. The results are valid through post-Newtonian order within general relativity. The gravitational waveform (transverse-traceless part of the metric perturbation tensor), the total luminosity and total emitted energy, the angular distribution of emitted energy (antenna pattern), and the frequency spectrum are discussed. A method of boosting the accuracy of these quantities to post-3/2-Newtonian order is presented. A numerical comparison of the results with previously reported results shows that the post-Newtonian method is reliable to better than 0.1% at v = 0.1c, to a few percent at v = 0.35c, and to 10-20% at v = 0.5c.