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  • Open Access

Frequency-domain self-force calculations using Gegenbauer reconstruction

Christopher Whittall1,2,*, Leor Barack2, and Oliver Long3

  • *Contact author: c.l.whittall@bham.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. D 112, 124045 – Published 11 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/9qsl-pr63

Abstract

We investigate the use of the Gegenbauer procedure for time-domain reconstruction in frequency-domain calculations of the self-force on a particle orbiting a black hole. The conventional technique relies on the so-called method of extended homogeneous solutions (EHSs), which circumvents the Gibbs phenomenon that would otherwise hamper the reconstruction of the particle’s field from frequency modes. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of EHS reconstruction deteriorates rapidly with increasing orbital eccentricity, due to large numerical cancellations between frequency-mode contributions. Furthermore, the method is only suitable for bound orbits and cannot be fully applied in scattering scenarios. The Gegenbauer reconstruction procedure involves a reprojection of the partial Fourier representation onto a complementary basis of polynomials. The resulting series converges exponentially while averting the cancellation problem. We demonstrate the procedure with numerical results for the spherical harmonic modes of the scalar field sourced by a scalar charge in orbit around a Schwarzschild black hole. We illustrate the merits of this approach and discuss the challenges that remain for a full Gegenbauer-based self-force calculation.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 124045– Published 11 December, 2025
  • Received 24 September 2025
  • Accepted 21 November 2025
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