A new approach to the study of quasi-normal modes of rotating stars

Abstract

We propose a new method to study the quasi-normal modes of rotating relativistic stars. Oscillations are treated as perturbations in the frequency domain of the stationary, axisymmetric background describing a rotating star. The perturbed quantities are expanded in circular harmonics, and the resulting 2D-equations they satisfy are integrated using spectral methods in the (r,theta)-plane. The asymptotic conditions at infinity, needed to find the mode frequencies, are implemented by generalizing the standing wave boundary condition commonly used in the non rotating case. As a test, the method is applied to find the quasi-normal mode frequencies of a slowly rotating star.