Contributor info: Mr Guillaume Lhost

Guillaume Lhost, Geoffrey Compère

SciPost Phys. Core 8, 059 (2025) · published 29 August 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

Eccentric binary compact mergers are prime targets of current and future gravitational wave observatories. In the small mass ratio expansion, post-adiabatic inspirals have been modeled up to the separatrix, where first-principle modeling currently ends. In this paper, we derive the analytic late time solution to the adiabatic inspiral in terms of self-force coefficients at the separatrix. We identify the role of the Lambert $W_{-1}$ function as a key mathematical ingredient in the approach to the separatrix.