Dynamical response to a stationary tidal field

Abstract

We demonstrate that a slowly rotating compact body subjected to a stationary tidal field undergoes a dynamical response, in which the fluid variables and the interior metric vary on the time scale of the rotation period. This dynamical response requires the tidal field to have a gravitomagnetic component generated by external mass currents; the response to a gravitoelectric tidal field is stationary. We confirm that in a calculation carried out to first order in the body's rotation, the exterior geometry bears no trace of this internal dynamics; it remains stationary in spite of the time-dependent interior.