Exact plane gravitational waves and electromagnetic fields (Q1581171)

De Rham equations for a test electromagnetic field in the background of an exact gravitation plane wave are examined in full, non-linearized Einstein's general relativity. The solution is given explicitly in the case of a linearly polarized gravitational wave. In the general case, the problem is reduced to a set of ordinary differential equations. The solution is found in wave reference frame, where the metric tensor has the simplest form and then transformed to Fermi normal coordinates, where a physical interpretation can be obtained. As an example, the authors choose the electromagnetic field which corresponds to a static magnetic field in the absence of gravitational waves and discuss several Gedanken experiments involving electromagnetic interaction. In contrast with mechanical detectors, which involve geodesic deviation measurements, these experiments allow to detect the presence of gravitational waves irrespective of the apparatus size.