  Head-on infall of two compact objects with arbitrary mass ratio is
investigated using the multipolar post-Minkowskian approximation method. At the
third post-Newtonian order the energy flux, in addition to the instantaneous
contributions, also includes hereditary contributions consisting of the
gravitational-wave tails, tails-of-tails and the tail-squared terms. The
results are given both for infall from infinity and also for infall from a
finite distance. These analytical expressions should be useful for the
comparison with the high accuracy numerical relativity results within the limit
in which post-Newtonian approximations are valid.
