Abstract
The polarization of gravitational plane waves is studied. In particular, it is found that each interacting gravitational plane wave can be split into two parts: the shock part and the impulsive part. The plane of the polarization for the plane gravitational shock waves usually gets rotated due to two kinds of interaction: one is the nonlinear interacton between the oppositely moving plane gravitational shock waves, and the other is the interaction between the gravitational shock wave and the matter fields which are present. The change of polarization due to the nonlinear interaction is exactly a gravitational analogue of Faraday rotation, but with the oppositely moving gravitational shock wave as the magnetic field and medium. The effect of the above two kinds of interaction on the impulsive gravitational plane waves is different from that on the shock waves. Only the interaction between the impulsive gravitational wave and the matter fields can change the polarization of the impulsive wave.
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