Accurate modeling of intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals: Exploring the form of the self-force in the intermediate-mass-ratio regime

In this paper we develop a waveform model that accurately reproduces the dynamical evolution of intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals, as predicted by the effective-one-body (EOB) model introduced in 1, and which enables us to shed some light on the form of the self-force for events with mass-ratio 1: 6, 1: 10 and 1: 100. To complement this study, we make use of self-force results in the extreme-mass-ratio regime, and of predictions of the EOB model introduced in 1, to derive a prescription for the shift of the orbital frequency at the innermost stable circular orbit which consistently captures predictions from the extreme, intermediate and comparable-mass-ratio regimes.