Solutions of Two Problems in the Theory of Gravitational Radiation

Abstract

The evolution of an elongated rotating configuration by gravitational radiation and the possibility of a secular instability being induced by it are considered in the context of the classical homogeneous figures of Maclaurin and Jacobi. The triaxial Jacobian ellipsoid evolves in the direction of increasing angular velocity and approaches (exponentially) the point of bifurcation where it ceases to radiate. Further, radiation reaction does not make the Maclaurin spheroid secularly unstable past the point of bifurcation.