We present new results through 7PN order on the energy flux from eccentric extreme-mass-ratio binaries. The black hole perturbation calculations are made at very high accuracy (200 decimal places) using a Mathematica code based on the Mano-Suzuki-Takasugi (MST) analytic function expansion formalism. All published coefficients in the expansion through 3PN order at lowest order in the mass ratio are confirmed and new analytic and numeric terms are found to high order in powers of e 2 at post-Newtonian orders between 3.5PN and 7PN. We also show original work in finding (nearly) arbitrarily accurate expansions for hereditary terms at 1 .5PN, 2.5PN, and 3PN orders. An asymptotic analysis is developed that guides an understanding of eccentricity singular factors, which diverge at unit eccentricity and which appear at each PN order. We fit to a model at each PN order that includes these eccentricity singular factors, which allows the flux to be accurately determined out to e → 1.

We present an algorithm for calculating the metric perturbations and gravitational self-force for extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) with eccentric orbits. The massive black hole is taken to be Schwarzschild and metric perturbations are computed in Lorenz gauge. The perturbation equations are solved as coupled systems of ordinary differential equations in the frequency domain. Accurate local behavior of the metric is attained through use of the method of extended homogeneous solutions and mode-sum regularization is used to find the self-force. We focus on calculating the self-force with sufficient accuracy to ensure its error contributions to the phase in a long term orbital evolution will be $\delta\Phi \lesssim 10^{-2}$ radians. This requires the orbit-averaged force to have fractional errors $\lesssim 10^{-8}$ and the oscillatory part of the self-force to have errors $\lesssim 10^{-3}$ (a level frequently easily exceeded). Our code meets this error requirement in the oscillatory part, extending the reach to EMRIs with eccentricities of $e \lesssim 0.8$, if augmented by use of fluxes for the orbit-averaged force, or to eccentricities of $e \lesssim 0.5$ when used as a stand-alone code. Further, we demonstrate accurate calculations up to orbital separations of $a \simeq 100 M$, beyond that required for EMRI models and useful for comparison with post-Newtonian theory. Our principal developments include (1) use of fully constrained field equations, (2) discovery of analytic solutions for even-parity static modes, (3) finding a pre-conditioning technique for outer homogeneous solutions, (4) adaptive use of quad-precision and (5) jump conditions to handle near-static modes, and (6) a hybrid scheme for high eccentricities

We present an extension of work in an earlier paper showing high precision comparisons between black hole perturbation theory and post-Newtonian (PN) theory in their region of overlapping validity for bound, eccentric-orbit, Schwarzschild extreme-mass-ratio inspirals. As before we apply a numerical fitting scheme to extract eccentricity coefficients in the PN expansion of the gravitational wave fluxes, which are then converted to exact analytic form using an integer-relation algorithm. In this work, however, we fit to individual lmn modes to exploit simplifying factorizations that lie therein. Since the previous paper focused solely on the energy flux, here we concentrate initially on analyzing the angular momentum flux to infinity. A first step involves finding convenient forms for hereditary contributions to the flux at low-PN order, analogous to similar terms worked out previously for the energy flux. We then apply the upgraded techniques to find new PN terms through 9PN order and (at many PN orders) to e 30 in the power series in eccentricity. With the new approach applied to angular momentum fluxes, we return to the energy fluxes at infinity to extend those previous results. Like before, the underlying method uses a Mathematica code based on use of the Mano-Suzuki-Takasugi (MST) function expansion formalism to represent gravitational perturbations and spectral source integration (SSI) to find numerical results at arbitrarily high precision.

This paper presents a new technique for achieving spectral accuracy and fast computational performance in a class of black hole perturbation and gravitational self-force calculations involving extreme mass ratios and generic orbits. Called \emph{spectral source integration} (SSI), this method should see widespread future use in problems that entail (i) point-particle description of the small compact object, (ii) frequency domain decomposition, and (iii) use of the background eccentric geodesic motion. Frequency domain approaches are widely used in both perturbation theory flux-balance calculations and in local gravitational self-force calculations. Recent self-force calculations in Lorenz gauge, using the frequency domain and method of extended homogeneous solutions, have been able to accurately reach eccentricities as high as $e \simeq 0.7$. We show here SSI successfully applied to Lorenz gauge. In a double precision Lorenz gauge code, SSI enhances the accuracy of results and makes a factor of three improvement in the overall speed. The primary initial application of SSI--for us its \emph{raison d'\^{e}tre}--is in an arbitrary precision \emph{Mathematica} code that computes perturbations of eccentric orbits in the Regge-Wheeler gauge to extraordinarily high accuracy (e.g., 200 decimal places). These high accuracy eccentric orbit calculations would not be possible without the exponential convergence of SSI. We believe the method will extend to work for inspirals on Kerr, and will be the subject of a later publication. SSI borrows concepts from discrete-time signal processing and is used to calculate the mode normalization coefficients in perturbation theory via sums over modest numbers of points around an orbit. A variant of the idea is used to obtain spectral accuracy in solution of the geodesic orbital motion.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure