Sourced metric perturbations of Kerr spacetime in Lorenz gauge

Abstract

We derive a formalism for solving the Lorenz gauge equations for metric perturbations of Kerr spacetime sourced by an arbitrary stress-energy tensor. The metric perturbation is obtained as a sum of differential operators acting on a set of six scalars, with two of spin-weight ±2, two of spin-weight ±1, and two of spin-weight 0. We derive the sourced Teukolsky equations satisfied by these scalars, with the sources given in terms of differential operators acting on the stress-energy tensor. The method can be used to obtain both linear and higher-order nonlinear metric perturbations, and it fully determines the metric perturbation up to a time integral, omitting only static contributions which must be handled separately.