In these lectures we give a general introduction to the theory of gravitational waves and the analytic approximation methods in general relativity. More precisely we focus on the theory which is necessary to accurately and reliably predict the gravitational waves generated by compact binary systems, made of black holes or neutron stars. The predictions are used in the form of gravitational-wave “templates” in the data analysis of the detectors LIGO, VIRGO, ... LISA. In particular we present the state-of-the-art on the post-Newtonian approximation in general relativity, which is the main tool for describing the famous gravitational wave “chirp” of compact binary systems. The outline of the lectures is :
1. Gravitational wave events
2. Methods to compute gravitational waves
3. Einstein quadrupole formalism
4. Post-Newtonian parameters
5. Finite size effects in compact binaries
6. Synergy with the effective field theory
7. Radiation reaction and balance equations. [-]