Orbits of compact stars near massive black holes

Orbits of compact stars near massive black holes will evolve rapidly and emit gravitational waves.

The orbital evolution is highly non-Newtonian. Very large changes in orbital parameters would occur on each periapsis passage. The gravitational radiation from these passages would be observable by LISA out to redshift z ∼ 2. These signals will provide precise tests of gravitational theory in the high-field region around the massive black holes. The waveforms can be accurately calculated using perturbation expansions since the scattered mass is much smaller than the central mass. this is in contrast to the case of the coalescence of two similar sized objects where the calculations of the waveform are not currently possible.