{
  "abstract": "Point particles are generically ill defined in fully nonlinear general relativity, although they are naturally well defined in linear perturbation theory. In a previous paper, two of us showed how they can be rigorously defined from matched asymptotic expansions at second order in perturbation theory on a generic background spacetime. Here we show how the resulting field equations can be recast in a more practical, more fully ``skeletonized'' form. We also show that this form of the field equations enables simple derivations of equations of motion. Finally, we show how calculations in second-order perturbation theory can bypass the use of singular ``punctures'' and make rigorous use of off-the-shelf regularization methods such as Blanchet and Damour's Hadamard regularization, opening new avenues to second-order self-force calculations in black hole binaries.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.10521",
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Jørgen Musaeus"
    },
    {
      "name": "Adam Pound"
    },
    {
      "name": "Samuel D. Upton"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4gyh7wbnk1krs.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.10521",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "4gyh7wbnk1krs",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.10521",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "gr-qc"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-th"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3103|Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7212185500",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.10521",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-25",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4gyh7wbnk1krs.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:25:12Z",
      "native_id": "2609.10521",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.10521"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:gr-qc",
      "subfield": "gravitation"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:hep-th",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Point particles in general relativity: beyond linear perturbation theory",
  "title_text": "Point particles in general relativity: beyond linear perturbation theory",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:25:12Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4gyh7wbnk1krs",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}