EXTENDED BODIES IN GENERAL RELATIVITY: DIXON’S MODEL AND ITS APPLICATIONS

Dixon’s model applies to extended bodies with generic multipolar structure. However, applications of this model (over a period of more than fifty years) have been considered only for dipolar or spinning bodies, i.e. limiting the multipolar expansion to the first nontrivial term. We summarize here some recent attempts to take into account both dipolar and quadrupolar structure.