On quadrupole and octupole gravitational radiation in the ANK formalism

Abstract

Following the approach of Adamo–Newman–Kozameh (ANK) we derive the equations of motion for the center of mass and intrinsic angular moment for isolated sources of gravitational waves in axially symmetric spacetimes. The original ANK formulation is generalized so that the angular momentum coincides with the Komar integral for a rotational Killing symmetry. This is done using the Winicour–Tamburino Linkages which yields the mass dipole-angular momentum tensor for the isolated sources. The ANK formalism then provides a complex worldline in a fiducial flat space to define the notions of center of mass and spin. The equations of motion are derived and then used to analyse a very simple astrophysical process where only quadrupole and octupole contributions are included. The results are then compared with those coming from the post newtonian approximation.