Memory effect & Carroll symmetry, 50 years later

Abstract

Particles at rest before the arrival of a burst of gravitational wave move, after the wave has passed, with constant velocity along diverging geodesics. As recognized by Souriau 50 years ago and then forgotten, their motion is particularly simple in Baldwin–Jeffery–Rosen (BJR) coordinates (which are however defined only in coordinate patches): they are determined when the first integrals associated with the 5-parameter isometry group (recently identified as Lévy-Leblond’s “Carroll” group with broken rotations) are used. A global description can be given instead in terms of Brinkmann coordinates, however it requires to solve a Sturm–Liouville equation, whereas the relation between BJR and Brinkmann requires to solve yet another Sturm–Liouville equation. The theory is illustrated by geodesic motion in a linearly polarized (approximate) “sandwich” wave proposed by Gibbons and Hawking for gravitational collapse, and by circularly polarized approximate sandwich waves with Gaussian envelope.