Initial data for Einstein's equations with superposed gravitational waves
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
2009-11-10 v2
Abstract
A method is presented to construct initial data for Einstein's equations as a superposition of a gravitational wave perturbation on an arbitrary stationary background spacetime. The method combines the conformal thin sandwich formalism with linear gravitational waves, and allows detailed control over characteristics of the superposed gravitational wave like shape, location and propagation direction. It is furthermore fully covariant with respect to spatial coordinate changes and allows for very large amplitude of the gravitational wave.
Cite
@article{arxiv.gr-qc/0410016,
title = {Initial data for Einstein's equations with superposed gravitational waves},
author = {Harald P. Pfeiffer and Lawrence E. Kidder and Mark A. Scheel and Deirdre Shoemaker},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:gr-qc/0410016},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Version accepted by PRD; added convergence plots, expanded discussion. 9 pages, 9 figures