Gravitational Self-Force Correction to the Binding Energy of Compact Binary Systems

Using the first law of binary black-hole mechanics, we compute the binding energy E and total angular momentum J of two nonspinning compact objects moving on circular orbits with frequency Omega, at leading order beyond the test-particle approximation. By minimizing Ed (Omega) we recover the exact frequency shift of the Schwarzschild innermost stable circular orbit induced by the conservative piece of the gravitational self-force. Comparing our results for the coordinate-invariant relation E(J) to those recently obtained from numerical simulations of comparable-mass nonspinning black-hole binaries, we find a remarkably good agreement, even in the strong-field regime. Our findings confirm that the domain of validity of perturbative calculations may extend well beyond the extreme mass-ratio limit.