Dynamics of extended bodies with spin-induced quadrupole in Kerr spacetime: generic orbits

We discuss motions of extended bodies in Kerr spacetime by using Mathisson–Papapetrou–Dixon equations. We firstly solve the conditions for circular orbits, and calculate the orbital frequency shift due to the mass quadrupoles. The results show that we need not consider the spin-induced quadrupoles in extreme-mass-ratio inspirals for space-based gravitational wave detectors. We quantitatively investigate the temporal variation of rotational velocity of the extended body due to the coupling of quadrupole and background gravitational field. For generic orbits, we numerically integrate the Mathisson–Papapetrou–Dixon equations for evolving the motion of an extended body orbiting a Kerr black hole. By comparing with the monopole–dipole approximation, we reveal the influences of quadrupole moments of extended bodies on the orbital motion and chaotic dynamics of extreme-mass-ratio systems. We do not find any chaotic orbits for the extended bodies with physical spins and spin-induced quadrupoles. Possible implications for gravitational wave detection and pulsar timing observation are outlined.