Two-Body Problem With Finite Speed of the Interaction Propagation

Using one result of general relativity, namely the finiteness of the speed of gravity, it is considered how the finiteness of this speed can change behavior of two-body system, for example, wide binary stars. For such a system, when bodies move in circular orbits, one property of these orbits makes it possible to calculate the exact positions of the bodies at retarded time and, therefore, the forces acting on the bodies at the present instant, but taking into account the effect of gravitational retardation, namely, that these forces were created by sources located in retarded positions. For Keplerian orbits, the effect of the gravitational retardation leads to an increase in the angular momentum of the two-body system. As applied to binary stars, the increase in the angular momentum over time can explain a disruption of wide binary stars into two single ones. This effect has not previously been described in the scientific literature.