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We present various post-Newtonian (PN) models for the phase evolution of compact objects moving along quasi-spherical orbits in Kerr spacetime derived by using the 12PN analytic formulas of the energy, angular momentum and their averaged rates of change calculated in the framework of the black hole perturbation theory. To examine the convergence of time-domain PN models (TaylorT families), we evaluate the dephasing between approximants with different PN orders. We found that the TaylorT1 model shows the best performance and the performance of the TaylorT2 is the next best. To evaluate the convergence of frequency-domain PN models (TaylorF families), we evaluate the mismatch between approximants with different orders. We found that the performance of the TaylorF2 model is comparable with the TaylorT2 model. Although the TaylorT2 and TaylorF2 models are not so accurate as the TaylorT1, the fully analytical expressions give us easy-to-handle templates and are useful to discuss effects beyond general relativity., Comment: 27 pages, 14 figures. v2: Problem with not showing the figures resolved

Scientific analysis for the gravitational-wave detector LISA will require theoretical waveforms from extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) that extensively cover all possible orbital and spin configurations around astrophysical Kerr black holes. However, on-the-fly calculations of these waveforms have not yet overcome the high dimensionality of the parameter space. To confront this challenge, we present a user-ready EMRI waveform model for generic (eccentric and inclined) orbits in Kerr spacetime, using an analytical self-force approach. Our model accurately covers all EMRIs with arbitrary inclination and black hole spin, up to modest eccentricity ($\lesssim 0.3$) and separation ($\gtrsim2$--$10M$ from the last stable orbit). In that regime, our waveforms are accurate at the leading `adiabatic' order, and they approximately capture transient self-force resonances that significantly impact the gravitational-wave phase. The model fills an urgent need for extensive waveforms in ongoing data-analysis studies, and its individual components will continue to be useful in future science-adequate waveforms., Comment: 9+5 pages,4+1 figures,5PN-e10 Teukolsky data are all available at the Black Hole Perturbation Club: https://sites.google.com/view/bhpc1996/data v2:updated references,expanded supplemental discussion of initial phases.v3:contains minor corrections and more references.Matches version published in PRL

The gravitational wave event, GW190521 is the most massive binary black hole merger observed by ground-based gravitational wave observatories LIGO/Virgo to date. While the observed gravitational-wave signal is mainly in the merger and ringdown phases, the inspiral gravitational-wave signal of GW190521-like binary will be more visible by space-based detectors in the low-frequency band. In addition, the ringdown gravitational-wave signal will be more loud with the next generation (3G) of ground-based detectors in the high-frequency band, displaying a great potential of the multiband gravitational wave observations. In this paper, we explore the scientific potential of multiband observations of GW190521-like binaries with milli-Hz gravitational wave observatory: LISA, deci-Hz observatory: B-DECIGO, and (next generation of) hecto-Hz observatories: aLIGO and ET. In the case of quasicircular evolution, the triple-band observation by LISA, B-DECIGO and ET will provide parameter estimation errors of the masses and spin amplitudes of component black holes at the level of order 1% -- 10%. This would allow consistency tests of general relativity in the strong-field at an unparalleled precision, particularly with the "B-DECIGO + ET" observation. In the case of eccentric evolution, the multiband signal-to-noise ratio by "B-DECIGO + ET" observation would be larger than 100 for a five year observation prior to coalescence, even with high final eccentricities., Comment: 26 pages, 2 figures.v2:accepted version.v3:corrects typos in Table.4 (Multiband) and Eq.(A9).References updated

We compute gravitational waves from inspiraling stellar-mass compact objects on the equatorial plane of a massive spinning black hole (BH). Our inspiral orbits are computed by taking into account the adiabatic change of orbital parameters due to gravitational radiation in the lowest order in mass ratio. We employ an interpolation method to compute the adiabatic change at arbitrary points inside the region of orbital parameter space computed in advance. Using the obtained inspiral orbits and associated gravitational waves, we compute power spectra of gravitational waves and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for several values of the BH spin, the masses of the binary, and the initial orbital eccentricity during a hypothetical three-yrs LISA observation before final plunge. We find that (i) the SNR increases as the BH spin and the mass of the compact object increase for the BH mass $M \agt 10^6M_\odot$, (ii) the SNR has a maximum for $M \approx 10^6M_\odot$, and (iii) the SNR increases as the initial eccentricity increases for $M=10^6M_\odot$. We also show that incorporating the contribution from the higher multipole modes of gravitational waves is crucial for enhancing the detection rate., Comment: 18 pages, 18 figures, published in Phys. Rev. D, supplementary data files available at https://sites.google.com/view/bhpc1996/home

Deci-hertz Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (DECIGO) is the future Japanese space mission with a frequency band of 0.1 Hz to 10 Hz. DECIGO aims at the detection of primordial gravitational waves, which could be produced during the inflationary period right after the birth of the universe. There are many other scientific objectives of DECIGO, including the direct measurement of the acceleration of the expansion of the universe, and reliable and accurate predictions of the timing and locations of neutron star/black hole binary coalescences. DECIGO consists of four clusters of observatories placed in the heliocentric orbit. Each cluster consists of three spacecraft, which form three Fabry-Perot Michelson interferometers with an arm length of 1,000 km. Three clusters of DECIGO will be placed far from each other, and the fourth cluster will be placed in the same position as one of the three clusters to obtain the correlation signals for the detection of the primordial gravitational waves. We plan to launch B-DECIGO, which is a scientific pathfinder of DECIGO, before DECIGO in the 2030s to demonstrate the technologies required for DECIGO, as well as to obtain fruitful scientific results to further expand the multi-messenger astronomy., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures

The "flux-balance formulae" that determine the averaged evolution of energy, azimuthal angular momentum, and Carter constant in terms of the averaged asymptotic gravitational-wave fluxes for inspirals of small bodies into Kerr black holes were first derived about 15 years ago. However, this derivation is restricted to the case that the background Kerr geodesics are non-resonant (i.e., the radial and angular motions are always incommensurate), and excludes the resonant case that can be important for the radiative dynamics of extreme mass-ratio inspirals. We give here a new derivation of the flux formulae based on Hamiltonian dynamics of a self-forced particle motion, which is a valuable tool for analyzing self-force effects on generic (eccentric, inclined) bound orbits in the Kerr spacetime. This Hamiltonian derivation using action-angle variables is much simpler than the previous one, applies to resonant inspirals without any complication, and can be straightforwardly implemented by using analytical/numerical Teukolsky-based flux codes., Comment: v2: 27 pages, 0 figures, matches the published version

The post-Newtonian approximation is useful to discuss gravitational waveforms for binary inspirals. In this note, for retrograde circular orbits in the equatorial plane, we discuss the region of validity of the post-Newtonian approximation by using the gravitational energy flux derived numerically and analytically in the black hole perturbation approach. It is found that the edge of the allowable region behaves quite intricately, including prograde orbits even if we treat higher post-Newtonian orders., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures

We formulate a Hamiltonian description of the orbital motion of a point particle in Kerr spacetime for generic (eccentric, inclined) orbits, which accounts for the effects of the conservative part of the gravitational self-force. This formulation relies on a description of the particle's motion as geodesic in a certain smooth effective spacetime, in terms of (generalized) action-angle variables. Clarifying the role played by the gauge freedom in the Hamiltonian dynamics, we extract the gauge-invariant information contained in the conservative self-force. We also propose a possible gauge choice for which the orbital dynamics can be described by an effective Hamiltonian, written solely in terms of the action variables. As an application of our Hamiltonian formulation in this gauge, we derive the conservative self-force correction to the orbital frequencies of Kerr innermost stable spherical (inclined or circular) orbits. This gauge choice also allows us to establish a "first law of mechanics" for black-hole-particle binary systems, at leading order beyond the test-mass approximation., Comment: 55 pages, 0 figures, matches the published version

Ultralight degrees of freedom coupled to matter lead to resonances, which can be excited when the Compton wavelength of the field equals a dynamical scale in the problem. For binaries composed of a star orbiting a supermassive black hole, these resonances lead to a smoking-gun effect: a periastron distance which {\it stalls}, even in the presence of gravitational-wave dissipation. This effect, also called a {\it floating orbit}, occurs for generic equatorial but eccentric orbits and we argue that finite-size effects are not enough to suppress it., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

We revisit the accuracy of the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation and its region of validity for quasi-circular orbits of a point particle in the Kerr spacetime, by using an analytically known highest post-Newtonian order gravitational energy flux and accurate numerical results in the black hole perturbation approach. It is found that regions of validity become larger for higher PN order results although there are several local maximums in regions of validity for relatively low-PN order results. This might imply that higher PN order calculations are also encouraged for comparable-mass binaries., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, minor modifications to match the published version in PRD

We calculate the secular changes of the orbital parameters of a point particle orbiting a Kerr black hole, due to the gravitational radiation reaction. For this purpose, we use the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation in the first order black hole perturbation theory, with the expansion with respect to the orbital eccentricity. In this work, the calculation is done up to the fourth post-Newtonian (4PN) order and to the sixth order of the eccentricity, including the effect of the absorption of gravitational waves by the black hole. We confirm that, in the Kerr case, the effect of the absorption appears at the 2.5PN order beyond the leading order in the secular change of the particle's energy and may induce a superradiance, as known previously for circular orbits. In addition, we find that the superradiance may be suppressed when the orbital plane inclines with respect to the equatorial plane of the central black hole. We also investigate the accuracy of the 4PN formulae by comparing to numerical results. If we require that the relative errors in the 4PN formulae are less than $10^{-5}$, the parameter region to satisfy the condition will be $p\gtrsim 50$ for $e=0.1$, $p\gtrsim 80$ for $e=0.4$, and $p\gtrsim 120$ for $e=0.7$ almost irrespective of the inclination angle nor the spin of the black hole, where $p$ and $e$ are the semi-latus rectum and the eccentricity of the orbit. The region can further be extended using an exponential resummation method to $p\gtrsim 40$ for $e=0.1$, $p\gtrsim 60$ for $e=0.4$, and $p\gtrsim 100$ for $e=0.7$. Although we still need the higher order calculations of the PN approximation and the expansion with respect to the orbital eccentricity to apply for data analysis of gravitational waves, the results in this paper would be an important improvement from the previous work at the 2.5PN order, especially for large $p$ region., Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures, minor corrections, minor modifications to match the published version in PTEP added, supplementary data files available at http://www2.yukawa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~misao.sasaki/BHPC/

One century after its formulation, Einstein's general relativity has made remarkable predictions and turned out to be compatible with all experimental tests. Most of these tests probe the theory in the weak-field regime, and there are theoretical and experimental reasons to believe that general relativity should be modified when gravitational fields are strong and spacetime curvature is large. The best astrophysical laboratories to probe strong-field gravity are black holes and neutron stars, whether isolated or in binary systems. We review the motivations to consider extensions of general relativity. We present a (necessarily incomplete) catalog of modified theories of gravity for which strong-field predictions have been computed and contrasted to Einstein's theory, and we summarize our current understanding of the structure and dynamics of compact objects in these theories. We discuss current bounds on modified gravity from binary pulsar and cosmological observations, and we highlight the potential of future gravitational wave measurements to inform us on the behavior of gravity in the strong-field regime., Comment: 188 pages, 46 figures, 6 tables, 903 references. Matches version published in Classical and Quantum Gravity. Supplementary data files available at http://www.phy.olemiss.edu/~berti/research/ and http://centra.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/network/grit/files/

We compute the energy flux of the gravitational waves radiated by a particle of mass $\m$ in circular orbits around a rotating black hole of mass $M$ up to the 11th post-Newtonian order (11PN), i.e. $v^{22}$ beyond the leading Newtonian approximation where $v$ is the orbital velocity of the particle. By comparing the PN results for the energy flux with high precision numerical results in black hole perturbation theory, we find the region of validity in the PN approximation becomes larger with increasing PN orders. If one requires the relative error of the energy flux in the PN approximation to be less than $10^{-5}$, the energy flux at 11PN (4PN) can be used for $v\lessapprox 0.33$ ($v\lessapprox 0.13$). The region of validity can be further extended to $v\lessapprox 0.4$ if one applies a resummation method to the energy flux at 11PN. We then compare the orbital phase during two-year inspiral from the PN results with the high precision numerical results. We find that for late (early) inspirals when $q\le 0.3$ ($q\le 0.9$), where $q$ is the dimensionless spin parameter of the black hole, the difference in the phase is less than 1 ($10^{-4}$) rads and hence these inspirals may be detected in the data analysis for space detectors such as eLISA/NGO by the PN templates. We also compute the energy flux radiated into the event horizon for a particle in circular orbits around a non-rotating black hole at 22.5PN, i.e. $v^{45}$ beyond the leading Newtonian approximation, which is comparable to the PN order derived in our previous work for the energy flux to infinity at 22PN., Comment: 31 pages, additional datafiles are available at http://www2.yukawa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~misao/BHPC/calcs.html

Extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs), the inspirals of compact objects into supermassive black holes, are important gravitational wave sources for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). We study the performance of various post-Newtonian (PN) template families relative to the high precision numerical waveforms in the context of EMRI parameter estimation with LISA. Expressions for the time domain waveforms TaylorT1, TaylorT2, TaylorT3, TaylorT4 and TaylorEt are derived up to 22PN order, i.e $\mathcal{O}(v^{44})$ ($v$ is the characteristic velocity of the binary) beyond the Newtonian term, for a test particle in a circular orbit around a Schwarzschild black hole. The phase difference between the above 22PN waveform families and numerical waveforms are evaluated during two-year inspirals for two prototypical EMRI systems with mass ratios $10^{-4}$ and $10^{-5}$. We find that the dephases (in radians) for TaylorT1 and TaylorT2, respectively, are about $10^{-9}$ ($10^{-2}$) and $10^{-9}$ ($10^{-3}$) for mass ratio $10^{-4}$ ($10^{-5}$). This suggests that using 22PN TaylorT1 or TaylorT2 waveforms for parameter estimation of EMRIs will result in accuracies comparable to numerical waveform accuracy for most of the LISA parameter space. On the other hand, from the dephase results, we find that TaylorT3, TaylorT4 and TaylorEt fare relatively poorly as one approaches the last stable orbit. This implies that, as for comparable mass binaries using the 3.5PN phase of waveforms, the 22PN TaylorT3 and TaylorEt approximants do not perform well enough for the EMRIs. The reason underlying the poor performance of TaylorT3, TaylorT4 and TaylorEt relative to TaylorT1 and TaylorT2 is finally examined., Comment: 10 pages

We discuss the inspiral of a small body around a Kerr black hole. When the time scale of the radiation reaction is sufficiently longer than its orbital period, the leading order orbital evolution is described only by the knowledge of the averaged evolution of the constants of motion, i.e., the energy, azimuthal angular momentum and the Carter constant. Although there is no conserved current composed of the perturbation field corresponding to the Carter constant, it has been shown that the averaged rate of change of the Carter constant can be given by a simple formula, when there exists a simultaneous turning point of the radial and polar oscillations. However, an inspiralling orbit may cross a "resonance" point, where the frequencies of the radial and polar orbital oscillations are in a rational ratio. At the resonance point, one cannot find a simultaneous turning point in general. Hence, even for the averaged rate of change of the Carter constant, a direct computation of the 'self-force", which is still challenging especially in the case of the Kerr background, seems to be necessary. In this paper, we present a method of computing the averaged rate of change of the Carter constant in a relatively simple manner at the "resonance" point., Comment: 18pages, no figures, matches version published in PTEP

We extend our previous results of the 14th post-Newtonian (PN) order expansion of gravitational waves for a test particle in circular orbits around a Schwarzschild black hole to the 22PN order, i.e. $v^{44}$ beyond the leading Newtonian approximation where $v$ is the orbital velocity of a test particle. Comparing our 22PN formula for the energy flux with high precision numerical results, we find that the relative error of the 22PN flux at the innermost stable circular orbit is about $10^{-5}$. We also estimate the phase difference between the 22PN waveforms and numerical waveforms after a two-year inspiral. We find that the dephase is about $10^{-9}$ for $\mu/M=10^{-4}$ and $10^{-2}$ for $\mu/M=10^{-5}$ where $\mu$ is the mass of the compact object and $M$ the mass of the central supermassive black hole. Finally, we construct a hybrid formula of the energy flux by supplementing the 4PN formula of the energy flux for circular and equatorial orbits around a Kerr black hole with all the present 22PN terms for the case of a Schwarzschild black hole. Comparing the hybrid formula with the the full numerical results, we examine the performance of the hybrid formula for the case of Kerr black hole., Comment: 22 pages, additional datafiles are available at this http URL

The accurate calculation of long-term phase evolution of gravitational wave (GW) forms from extreme (intermediate) mass ratio inspirals (E(I)MRIs) is an inevitable step to extract information from this system. Achieving this goal, it is believed that we need to understand the gravitational self-forces. However, it is not quntatively demonstrated that the second order self-forces are necessary for this purpose. In this paper we revisit the problem to estimate the order of magnitude of the dephasing caused by the second order self-forces on a small body in a quasi-circular orbit around a Kerr black hole, based on the knowledge of the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation and invoking the energy balance argument. In particular, we focus on the averaged dissipative part of the self-force, since it gives the leading order contribution among the various components of them. To avoid the possibility that the energy flux of GWs becomes negative, we propose a new simple resummation called exponential resummation, which assures the positivity of the energy flux. In order to estimate the magnitude of the yet unknown second order self-forces, here we point out the scaling property in the absolute value of the PN coefficients of the energy flux. Using these new tools, we evaluate the expected magnitude of dephasing. Our analysis indicates that the dephasing due to the second order self-forces for quasi-circular E(I)MRIs may be well captured by the 3PN energy flux, once we obtain all the spin dependent terms, except for the case with an extremely large spin of the central Kerr black., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures. revtex4,v2:added references, and minor modification to clarify the arguments; version published in PRD

We derive gravitational waveforms needed to compute the 14th post-Newtonian (14PN) order energy flux for a particle in circular orbit around a Schwarzschild black hole, i.e. $v^{28}$ beyond the leading Newtonian approximation where $v$ is the orbital velocity of a test particle. We investigate the convergence of the energy flux in the PN expansion and suggest a fitting formula which can be used to extract unknown higher order PN coefficients from accurate numerical data for more general orbits around a Kerr black hole. The phase difference between the 14PN waveforms and numerical waveforms after two years inspiral is shown to be about $10^{-7}$ for $\mu/M=10^{-4}$ and $10^{-3}$ for $\mu/M=10^{-5}$ where $\mu$ is the mass of a compact object and $M$ the mass of the central supermassive black hole. In first order black hole perturbation theory, for extreme mass ratio inspirals which are one of the main targets of Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, the 14PN expressions will lead to the data analysis accuracies comparable to the ones resulting from high precision numerical waveforms., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures

We generalize the factorized resummation of multipolar waveforms introduced by Damour, Iyer and Nagar to spinning black holes. For a nonspinning test-particle spiraling a Kerr black hole in the equatorial plane, we find that factorized multipolar amplitudes which replace the residual relativistic amplitude f_{l m} with its l-th root, \rho_{l m} = f_{l m}^{1/l}, agree quite well with the numerical amplitudes up to the Kerr-spin value q \leq 0.95 for orbital velocities v \leq 0.4. The numerical amplitudes are computed solving the Teukolsky equation with a spectral code. The agreement for prograde orbits and large spin values of the Kerr black hole can be further improved at high velocities by properly factoring out the lower-order post-Newtonian contributions in \rho_{l m}. The resummation procedure results in a better and systematic agreement between numerical and analytical amplitudes (and energy fluxes) than standard Taylor-expanded post-Newtonian approximants. This is particularly true for higher-order modes, such as (2,1), (3,3), (3,2), and (4,4) for which less spin post-Newtonian terms are known. We also extend the factorized resummation of multipolar amplitudes to generic mass-ratio, non-precessing, spinning black holes. Lastly, in our study we employ new, recently computed, higher-order post-Newtonian terms in several subdominant modes, and compute explicit expressions for the half and one-and-half post-Newtonian contributions to the odd-parity (current) and even-parity (odd) multipoles, respectively. Those results can be used to build more accurate templates for ground-based and space-based gravitational-wave detectors., Comment: 37 pages, 11 figures; Typos in Sec.IV Eqs.(38-42) fixed

Recent breakthroughs in numerical relativity enable one to examine the validity of the post-Newtonian expansion in the late stages of inspiral. For the comparison between post-Newtonian (PN) expansion and numerical simulations, the waveforms in terms of the spin-weighted spherical harmonics are more useful than the plus and cross polarizations, which are used for data analysis of gravitational waves. Factorized resummed waveforms achieve better agreement with numerical results than the conventional Taylor expanded post-Newtonian waveforms. In this paper, we revisit the post-Newtonian expansion of gravitational waves for a test-particle of mass $\m$ in circular orbit of radius $r_0$ around a Schwarzschild black hole of mass $M$ and derive the spherical harmonic components associated with the gravitational wave polarizations up to order $v^{11}$ beyond Newtonian. Using the more accurate $h_{\ell m}$'s computed in this work, we provide the more complete set of associated $\rho_{\ell m}$'s and $\delta_{\ell m}$'s that form important bricks in the factorized resummation of waveforms with potential applications for the construction of further improved waveforms for prototypical compact binary sources in the future. We also provide ready-to-use expressions of the 5.5PN gravitational waves polarizations $h_+$ and $h_\times$ in the test-particle limit for gravitational wave data analysis applications. Additionally, we provide closed analytical expressions for 2.5PN $h_{\ell m}$, 2PN $\rho_{\ell m}$ and 3PN $\delta_{\ell m}$, for general multipolar orders $\ell$ and $m$ in the test-particle limit. Finally, we also examine the implications of the present analysis for compact binary sources in Laser Interferometer Space Antenna., Comment: 42 pages, 2 figures, match with accepted version by PRD

We derive the analytical solutions of the bound timelike geodesic orbits in Kerr spacetime. The analytical solutions are expressed in terms of the elliptic integrals using Mino time $\lambda$ as the independent variable. Mino time decouples the radial and polar motion of a particle and hence leads to forms more useful to estimate three fundamental frequencies, radial, polar and azimuthal motion, for the bound timelike geodesics in Kerr spacetime. This paper gives the first derivation of the analytical expressions of the fundamental frequencies. This paper also gives the first derivation of the analytical expressions of all coordinates for the bound timelike geodesics using Mino time. These analytical expressions should be useful not only to investigate physical properties of Kerr geodesics but more importantly to applications related to the estimation of gravitational waves from the extreme mass ratio inspirals., Comment: A typo in the first expression in equation 21 was fixed

We develop a numerical code to compute gravitational waves induced by a particle moving on eccentric inclined orbits around a Kerr black hole. For such systems, the black hole perturbation method is applicable. The gravitational waves can be evaluated by solving the Teukolsky equation with a point like source term, which is computed from the stress-energy tensor of a test particle moving on generic bound geodesic orbits. In our previous papers, we computed the homogeneous solutions of the Teukolsky equation using a formalism developed by Mano, Suzuki and Takasugi and showed that we could compute gravitational waves efficiently and very accurately in the case of circular orbits on the equatorial plane. Here, we apply this method to eccentric inclined orbits. The geodesics around a Kerr black hole have three constants of motion: energy, angular momentum and the Carter constant. We compute the rates of change of the Carter constant as well as those of energy and angular momentum. This is the first time that the rate of change of the Carter constant has been evaluated accurately. We also treat the case of highly eccentric orbits with $e=0.9$. To confirm the accuracy of our codes, several tests are performed. We find that the accuracy is only limited by the truncation of $\ell$-, $k$- and $n$-modes, where $\ell$ is the index of the spin-weighted spheroidal harmonics, and $n$ and $k$ are the harmonics of the radial and polar motion, respectively. When we set the maximum of $\ell$ to 20, we obtain a relative accuracy of $10^{-5}$ even in the highly eccentric case of $e=0.9$. The accuracy is better for lower eccentricity. Our numerical code is expected to be useful for computing templates of the extreme mass ratio inspirals, which is one of the main targets of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA)., Comment: Reference added in section 1

We investigate the solution of the continued fraction equation by which we determine "the renormalized angular momentum parameter", $\nu$, in the formalism developed by Leaver and Mano, Suzuki, and Takasugi. In this formalism, we describe the homogeneous solutions of the radial Teukolsky equation, which is the basic equation of the black hole perturbation formalism. We find that, contrary to the assumption made in previous works, the solution, $\nu$, becomes complex valued as $\omega$ (the angular frequency) becomes large for each $l$ and $m$ (the degree and order of the spin-weighted spheroidal harmonics). We compare the power radiated by gravitational waves from a particle in a circular orbit in the equatorial plane around a Kerr black hole in two ways, one using the Mano-Suzuki-Takasugi formalism with complex $\nu$ and the other using a direct numerical integration method. We find that the two methods produce consistent results. These facts prove the validity of using complex solutions to determine the homogeneous solutions of the Teukolsky equation.

We discuss a numerical method to compute the homogeneous solutions of the Teukolsky equation which is the basic equation of the black hole perturbation method. We use the formalism developed by Mano, Suzuki and Takasugi, in which the homogeneous solutions of the radial Teukolsky equation are expressed in terms of two kinds of series of special functions, and the formulas for the asymptotic amplitudes are derived explicitly.Although the application of this method was previously limited to the analytical evaluation of the homogeneous solutions, we find that it is also useful for numerical computation. We also find that so-called "renormalized angular momentum parameter", $\nu$, can be found only in the limited region of $\omega$ for each $l,m$ if we assume $\nu$ is real (here, $\omega$ is the angular frequency, and $l$ and $m$ are degree and order of the spin-weighted spheroidal harmonics respectively). We also compute the flux of the gravitational waves induced by a compact star in a circular orbit on the equatorial plane around a rotating black hole. We find that the relative error of the energy flux is about $10^{-14}$ which is much smaller than the one obtained by usual numerical integration methods., Comment: 36 pages,7 figures