We propose a new method to regulate the motion of test masses in GR as the point particle limit of classical field equations. First, we explore the inter-relations between classical field solutions in a background metric and the Hamilton-Jacobi action for geodesic motion. We then show how to directly extract the scattering angle for a point particle from the partial wave expansion for field scattering, by taking the point-particle saddle point. As a check of our formalism, we extract the classical scattering angle for relativistic Coulomb scattering, and for test masses in Schwarzschild and Kerr spacetimes. Finally, we discuss future prospects of applying our classical field method to regulate self-force calculations for Extreme-Mass-Ratio Inspirals.
 
 
Virtual Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/215429094