Electromagnetic wave propagation in general Kasner-like metrics

Abstract

The curved spacetime Maxwell equations are applied to the anisotropically expanding Kasner metrics. Using the application of vector identities we derive second-order differential wave equations for the electromagnetic field components; through this explicit derivation, we find that the second-order wave equations are not uncoupled for the various components (as previously assumed), but that gravitationally induced coupling between the electric and magnetic field components is generated directly by the anisotropy of the expansion. The lack of such coupling terms in the wave equations from several prior studies may indicate a generally incomplete understanding of the evolution of electromagnetic energy in anisotropic cosmologies. Uncoupling the field components requires the derivation of a fourth-order wave equation, which we obtain for Kasner-like metrics with generalized expansion/contraction rate indices. For the axisymmetric Kasner case, [Formula: see text], we obtain exact field solutions (for general propagation wave vectors), half of which appear not to have been found before in previous studies. For the other axisymmetric Kasner case, [Formula: see text], we use numerical methods to demonstrate the explicit violation of the geometric optics approximation at early times, showing the physical phase velocity of the wave to be inhibited towards the initial singularity, with [Formula: see text] as [Formula: see text].