The gravitational self-force approach describes how relatively small objects — such as a stellar-mass black hole or neutron star — move in the curved spacetime around much larger bodies, such as supermassive black holes. Although these small objects are treated as point particles in many models, their own gravity subtly alters their motion. This backreaction, or “self-force,” becomes crucial in making accurate predictions of gravitational waves from systems with extreme mass ratios.
Understanding the gravitational self-force is essential for modeling signals that will be observed by future space-based detectors like LISA, which will monitor the inspirals of compact objects into supermassive black holes. Our research developes precise mathematical and numerical methods to calculate the self-force effect, enabling the interpretation of gravitational wave data to test general relativity in strong-field regimes as well as probing supermassive black holes and galactic nuclei.