Evolutionary Dynamics While Trapped in Resonance: A Keplerian Binary System Perturbed by Gravitational Radiation

The method of averaging is used to investigate the phenomenon of capture into resonance for a model that describes a Keplerian binary system influenced by radiation damping and external normally incident periodic gravitational radiation. The dynamical evolution of the binary orbit while trapped in resonance is elucidated using the second order partially averaged system. This method provides a theoretical framework that can be used to explain the main evolutionary dynamics of a physical system that has been trapped in resonance.