| Abstrakt: |
A method is presented for evaluating post-Newtonian orbital corrections to the orbital-period decrease of a relativistic binary, by using previous results on the gravitational-radiation luminosity of a bounded source and the binary's relative motion. The method is based on an energy-balance equation, whose validity to post-Newtonian accuracy is not proved here, but, in view of recent theoretical results on the classical energy-balance equation, seems to be quite reasonable, and, in view of the available observational data, is practically correct. In the case of the binary pulsar PSR 1913 + 16 the proposed relative orbital correction amounts to ∼10−6 of the current observational uncertainty, thus greatly favoring the predictions of the classical quadrupole formula. |
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