Conservative Binary Dynamics at Order α^{5} in Electrodynamics

We compute the potential-photon contributions to the classical relativistic scattering angle of two charged nonspinning bodies in electrodynamics through fifth order in the coupling. We use the scattering amplitudes framework, effective field theory, and multiloop integration techniques based on integration by parts and differential equations. At fifth order, the result is expressed in terms of cyclotomic polylogarithms. Our calculation demonstrates the feasibility of the corresponding calculations in general relativity, including the evaluation of the encountered four-loop integrals.

Scattering Amplitudes, the Tail Effect, and Conservative Binary Dynamics at O(G^{4})

We complete the calculation of conservative two-body scattering dynamics at fourth post-Minkowskian order, i.e., O(G^{4}) and all orders in velocity, including radiative contributions corresponding to the tail effect in general relativity. As in previous calculations, we harness powerful tools from the modern scattering amplitudes program including generalized unitarity, the double copy, and advanced multiloop integration methods, in combination with effective field theory. The classical amplitude involves complete elliptic integrals, and polylogarithms with up to transcendental weight 2. Using the amplitude-action relation, we obtain the radial action directly from the amplitude, and match the known overlapping terms in the post-Newtonian expansion.

Conservative Dynamics of Binary Systems at Fourth Post-Minkowskian Order in the Large-Eccentricity Expansion

We compute the conservative dynamics of nonspinning binaries at fourth post-Minkowskian order in the large-eccentricity limit, including both potential and radiation-reaction tail effects. This is achieved by obtaining the scattering angle in the worldline effective field theory approach and deriving the bound radial action via analytic continuation. The associated integrals are bootstrapped to all orders in velocities through differential equations, with boundary conditions in the potential and radiation regions. The large angular momentum expansion captures all the local-in-time effects as well as the trademark logarithmic corrections for generic bound orbits. Agreement is found in the overlap with the state of the art in post-Newtonian theory.

Fundamental Gravity and Gravitational Waves

While being as old as general relativity itself, the gravitational two-body problem has never been under so intense investigation as it is today, spurred by both phenomenological and theoretical motivations. The observations of gravitational waves emitted by compact binary coalescences bear the imprint of the source dynamics, and as the sensitivity of detectors improve over years, more accurate modeling is being required. The analytic modeling of classical gravitational dynamics has been enriched in this century by powerful methods borrowed from field theory. Despite being originally developed in the context of fundamental particle quantum scatterings, their applications to classical, bound system problems have shown that many features usually associated with quantum field theory, such as, e.g., divergences and counterterms, renormalization group, loop expansion, and Feynman diagrams, have only to do with field theory, be it quantum or classical. The aim of this work is to present an overview of this approach, which models massive astrophysical objects as nonrelativistic particles and their gravitational interactions via classical field theory, being well aware that while the introductory material in the present article is meant to represent a solid background for newcomers in the field, the results reviewed here will soon become obsolete, as this field is undergoing rapid development.

Gravitational Bremsstrahlung from Reverse Unitarity

We compute the total radiated momentum carried by gravitational waves during the scattering of two spinless black holes at the lowest order in Newton's constant, O(G^{3}), and all orders in velocity. By analytic continuation into the bound state regime, we obtain the O(G^{3}) energy loss in elliptic orbits. This provides an essential step toward the complete understanding of the third-post-Minkowskian binary dynamics. We employ the formalism of Kosower, Maybee, and O'Connell (KMOC), which relates classical observables to quantum scattering amplitudes, and derive the relevant integrands using generalized unitarity. The subsequent phase-space integrations are performed via the reverse unitarity method familiar from collider physics, using differential equations to obtain the exact velocity dependence from near-static boundary conditions.

Scattering Amplitudes and Conservative Binary Dynamics at O(G^{4})

Using scattering amplitudes, we obtain the potential contributions to conservative binary dynamics in general relativity at fourth post-Minkowskian order O(G^{4}). As in previous lower-order calculations, we harness powerful tools from the modern scattering amplitudes program including generalized unitarity, the double copy, and advanced multiloop integration methods, in combination with effective field theory. The classical amplitude involves polylogarithms with up to transcendental weight two and elliptic integrals. We derive the radial action directly from the amplitude, and determine the corresponding Hamiltonian in isotropic gauge. Our results are in agreement with known overlapping terms up to sixth post-Newtonian order, and with the probe limit. We also determine the post-Minkowskian energy loss from radiation emission at O(G^{3}) via its relation to the tail effect.