A variational formalism for tidal excitation: Non-rotating, homentropic stars

Abstract

We present a variational formalism for describing the dynamical evolution of an oscillating star with a point-mass companion in the linear, non-relativistic regime. This includes both the excitation of normal modes and the back-reaction of the modes on the orbit. The general formalism for arbitrary fluid configurations is presented, and then specialized to a homentropic potential flow. Our formalism explicitly identifies and conserves both energy and angular momentum. We also consider corrections to the orbit up to 7/2 post-Newtonian order.