On a basic conceptual confusion in gravitational radiation theory

DOI10.1088/1361-6382/AA88E2MaRDI QIDQ4603085zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Abhay Ashtekar, Béatrice Bonga

Publication date 19 February 2018

Published in Classical and Quantum Gravity (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1707.07729

zbMATH Keywords

null infinityradiative modesgravitational and electromagnetic radiationtransverse traceless modes

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Philosophical and critical aspects of logic and foundations (03A05) Einstein's equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems) (83C05) Approximation procedures, weak fields in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C25) Electromagnetic fields in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C50) Gravitational waves (83C35)

Abstract: In much of the literature on linearized gravitational waves two completely different notions are called transverse traceless modes and labelled $h_{ab}^{TT}$, often in different sections of the same reference, without realizing the underlying inconsistency. We compare and contrast the two notions and find that the difference persists even at leading asymptotic order near future null infinity $mathit{I}^{+}$. We discuss why the distinction has nonetheless remained largely unnoticed, and also point out that there are some important physical effects where only one of the notions gives the correct answer.

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Cited in

(11)

• Quadrupolar power radiation by a binary system in de Sitter background
• Quadrupolar radiation in de Sitter: displacement memory and Bondi metric
• Gravitational wave memory and the wave equation
• On the ambiguity in the notion of transverse traceless modes of gravitational waves
• Gravity entanglement, quantum reference systems, degrees of freedom
• An introduction to gravitational waves through electrodynamics: a quadrupole comparison
• Radiative asymptotic symmetries of 3D Einstein-Maxwell theory
• On propagation of energy flux in de Sitter spacetime
• The transverse-traceless spin-2 gravitational wave cannot be a standalone observable because it is acausal
• Light-ray operators, detectors and gravitational event shapes
• Angular momentum of zero-frequency gravitons

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