Astrophysically realistic secondary spins trigger chaos in Schwarzschild spacetime and discernible gravitational wave signatures

Author(s): Dan-Dan Yuan, Jia-Geng Jiao, Yu-Qi Lei, Jun-Xi Shi, Jing-Qi Lai, Caiying Shao, and Yu TianChaos in extreme mass ratio inspirals is often thought to require unrealistically large secondary spins, making its astrophysical relevance uncertain. However, we find that chaos persists across the astrophysically realistic spin range for a spinning secondary orbiting a Schwarzschild black hole. Th…[Phys. Rev. D 114, 064043] Published Wed Sep 09, 2026