Geodesic congruences, impulsive gravitational waves and gravitational memory
High Energy Physics - Theory
2019-01-30 v3 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Abstract
In this paper we introduce a new approach to the study of the effects that an impulsive wave, containing a mixture of material sources and gravitational waves, has on a geodesic congruence that traverses it. We find that the effect of the wave on the congruence is a discontinuity in the B-tensor of the congruence. Our results thus provide a detector independent and covariant characterization of gravitational memory.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1808.04886,
title = {Geodesic congruences, impulsive gravitational waves and gravitational memory},
author = {Martin O'Loughlin and Hovhannes Demirchian},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1808.04886},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
Additional reference, small addition/clarification added to the text