Impulsive Gravitational Waves Research Articles

Wave and particle scattering properties of high-speed Kerr black holes

The light-like limit of the Kerr gravitational field relative to a distant observer moving rectilinearly in an arbitrary direction is an impulsive plane gravitational wave with a singular point on its wave front. By colliding particles with this wave we show that they have the same focusing properties as high-speed particles scattered by the original black hole. By colliding photons with the gravitational wave we show that there is a circular disc, centred on the singular point on the wave front, having the property that photons colliding with the wave within this disc are reflected back and travel with the wave. This result is approximate in the sense that there are observers who can see a dim (as opposed to opaque) circular disc on their sky. By colliding plane electromagnetic waves with the gravitational wave we show that the reflected electromagnetic waves are the high-frequency waves.

A snapping cosmic string in a de Sitter or anti-de Sitter universe

We present and describe an exact solution of Einstein's equations which represents a snapping cosmic string in a vacuum background with a cosmological constant Λ. The snapping of the string generates an impulsive spherical gravitational wave which is a particular member of a known family of such waves. The global solution for all values of Λ is presented in various metric forms and interpreted geometrically. It is shown to represent the limit of a family of sandwich type N Robinson–Trautman waves. It is also derived as a limit of the C-metric with Λ, in which the acceleration of the pair of black holes becomes unbounded while their masses are scaled to zero.

Ultrarelativistic black hole in an external electromagnetic field and gravitational waves in the Melvin universe

We investigate the ultrarelativistic boost of a Schwarzschild black hole immersed in an external electromagnetic field, described by an exact solution of the Einstein-Maxwell equations found by Ernst (the ``Schwarzschild-Melvin'' metric). Following the classical method of Aichelburg and Sexl, the gravitational field generated by a black hole moving ``with the speed of light'' and the transformed electromagnetic field are determined. The corresponding exact solution describes an impulsive gravitational wave propagating in the static, cylindrically symmetric, electrovac universe of Melvin, and for a vanishing electromagnetic field it reduces to the well known Aichelburg-Sexl pp wave. In the boosting process, the original Petrov type I of the Schwarzschild-Melvin solution simplifies to type II on the impulse, and to type D elsewhere. The geometry of the wave front is studied, in particular its nonconstant Gauss curvature. In addition, a more general class of impulsive waves in the Melvin universe is constructed by means of a six-dimensional embedding formalism adapted to the background. A coordinate system is also presented in which all the impulsive metrics take a continuous form. Finally, it is shown that these solutions are a limiting case of a family of exact gravitational waves with an arbitrary profile. This family is identified with a solution previously found by Garfinkle and Melvin. We thus complement their analysis, in particular demonstrating that such spacetimes are of type II and belong to the Kundt class.

Geodesic deviation inpp-wave spacetimes of quadratic curvature gravity

We write the equation of geodesic deviations in the spacetime of $pp$-waves in terms of the Newman-Penrose scalars and apply it to study gravitational waves in quadratic curvature gravity. We show that quadratic curvature gravity $pp$-waves can have a transverse helicity-0 polarization mode and two transverse helicity-2 general relativity-like wave polarizations. A concrete example is given in which we analyze the wave polarizations of an exact impulsive gravitational wave solution to quadratic curvature gravity.

Lightlike boost of the Kerr gravitational field

We describe light-like boosts of the Kerr gravitational field transverse and parallel to the symmetry axis. In the transverse case the boosted field is that of an impulsive gravitational wave having a line singularity displaced relative to its position if the rotation of the source were removed. The parallel boost is insensitive to the rotation of the source. The literature contains a number of diverse results for light-like boosts of the Kerr gravitational field. Our conclusions confirm the correctness of the limits calculated by Balasin and Nachbagauer [Class.and Quantum Grav.13(1996),731]. To avoid any ambiguity our approach is centered on evaluating the light-like boost of the Riemann tensor for the Kerr space-time with the metric playing a secondary role.

Geodesics in spacetimes with expanding impulsive gravitational waves

We study geodesic motion in expanding spherical impulsive gravitational waves propagating in a Minkowski background. Employing the continuous form of the metric we find and examine a large family of geometrically preferred geodesics. For the special class of axially symmetric spacetimes with the spherical impulse generated by a snapping cosmic string we give a detailed physical interpretation of the motion of test particles.

IMPULSIVE LIGHT-LIKE SIGNALS

A general characterisation of an impulsive light–like signal was given1,2. The signal may consist of a shell of null matter and/or an impulsive gravitational wave. Both parts of the signal can be unambiguously identified3,4. The signals can be used to model bursts of gravitational radiation and light– like matter accompanying cataclysmic events such as supernovae and neutron star collisions. Also in high speed collisions of compact objects such as black–holes or neutron stars the gravitational fields of these objects resemble those of impulsive light–like signals when the objects are boosted to the speed of light. Several examples of impulsive light–like signals were presented, in particular those produced by recoil effects5 and by the Aichelburg–Sexl boost of an isolated gravitating multipole source6. The detection of these signals was also discussed7.

Nonanalytic extensions of the extreme Reissner–Nordström metric in terms of weak solutions

A basic extension of the exterior part of the extreme Reissner–Nordström solution in terms of a continuous metric and gauge potential is constructed. This extension is not smooth at the null hypersurface given by the Cauchy–Killing horizon which separates isometric copies of the exterior metric. The Maxwell–Einstein system of equations is satisfied only in a weak sense. The manifold is topologically incomplete and the spherical symmetry is globally broken down to an axial symmetry. This behaviour can be attributed to the effect of a ‘topological string’, in the sense of an infinitesimally thin closed string-like object ‘sitting on the rim’ of the black hole and holding it open by means of an accompanying impulsive gravitational wave. The resulting differentiable manifold and the corresponding horizons are no longer simply connected, being ‘pierced’ by the strings.

DETECTION OF IMPULSIVE LIGHT-LIKE SIGNALS IN GENERAL RELATIVITY

The principal purpose of this paper is to study the effect of an impulsive light-like signal on neighbouring test particles. Such a signal can in general be unambiguously decomposed into a light-like shell of null matter and an impulsive gravitational wave. Our results are: (a) If there is anisotropic stress in the light-like shell then test particles initially moving in the signal front are displaced out of this 2-surface after encountering the signal; (b) For a light-like shell with no anisotropic stress accompanying a gravitational wave the effect of the signal on test particles moving in the signal front is to displace them relative to each other with the usual distortion due to the gravitational wave diminished by the presence of the light-like shell. An explicit example for a plane-fronted signal is worked out.

Null Limits of the C-Metric

The C-metric is usually understood as describing two black holes which accelerate in opposite directions under the action of some conical singularity. Here, we examine all the solutions of this type which represent accelerating sources and investigate the null limit in which the accelerations become unbounded. We show that the resulting space-times represent spherical impulsive gravitational waves generated by snapping or expanding cosmic strings.

Null Limits of Generalised Bonnor-Swaminarayan Solutions

The Bonnor-Swaminarayan solutions are boost-rotation symmetric space-times which describe the motion of pairs of accelerating particles which are possibly connected to strings (struts). In an explicit and unified form we present a generalised class of such solutions with a few new observations. We then investigate the possible limits in which the accelerations become unbounded. The resulting space-times represent spherical impulsive gravitational waves with snapping or expanding cosmic strings. We also obtain an exact solution for a snapping string of finite length.

The collision and snapping of cosmic strings generating spherical impulsive gravitational waves

The Penrose method for constructing spherical impulsive gravitational waves is investigated in detail, including alternative spatial sections and an arbitrary cosmological constant. The resulting waves include those that are generated by a snapping cosmic string. The method is used to construct an explicit exact solution of Einstein's equations describing the collision of two non-aligned cosmic strings in a Minkowski background which snap at their point of collision.

Colliding Plane Impulsive Gravitational Waves

When two non-interacting plane impulsive gravitational waves undergo a head-on collision, the vacuum interaction region between the waves after the collision contains backscattered gravitational radiation from both waves. The two systems of backscattered waves have each got a family of rays (null geodesics) associated with them. We demonstrate that if it is assumed that a parameter exists along each of these families of rays such that the modulus of the complex shear of each is equal then Einstein's vacuum field equations, with the appropriate boundary conditions, can be integrated systematically to reveal the well-known solutions in the interaction region. In so doing the mystery behind the origin of such solutions is removed. With the use of the field equations it is suggested that the assumption leading to their integration may be interpreted physically as implying that the energy densities of the two backscattered radiation fields are equal. With the use of different boundary conditions this approach can lead to new collision solutions.

Nonexpanding impulsive gravitational waves with an arbitrary cosmological constant

Exact solutions for nonexpanding impulsive waves in a background with nonzero cosmological constant are constructed using a `cut and paste' method. These solutions are presented using a unified approach which covers the cases of de Sitter, anti-de Sitter and Minkowski backgrounds. The metrics are presented in continuous and distributional forms, both of which are conformal to the corresponding metrics for impulsive pp-waves, and for which the limit as Λ→0 can be made explicitly.

Expanding impulsive gravitational waves

We demonstrate explicitly that the known solutions for expanding impulsive spherical gravitational waves that have been obtained by a `cut and paste' method may be considered to be impulsive limits of the Robinson-Trautman vacuum type-N solutions. We extend these results to all the generically distinct subclasses of these solutions in Minkowski, de Sitter and anti-de Sitter backgrounds. For these we express the solutions in terms of a continuous metric. Finally, we also extend the class of spherical shock gravitational waves to include a non-zero cosmological constant.

A rigorous solution concept for geodesic and geodesic deviation equations in impulsive gravitational waves

The geodesic as well as the geodesic deviation equation for impulsive gravitational waves involve highly singular products of distributions (θδ,θ2δ,δ2). A solution concept for these equations based on embedding the distributional metric into the Colombeau algebra of generalized functions is presented. Using a universal regularization procedure we prove existence and uniqueness results and calculate the distributional limits of these solutions explicitly. The obtained limits are regularization independent and display the physically expected behavior.

Boosted static multipole particles as sources of impulsive gravitational waves

It is shown that the known solutions for nonexpanding impulsive gravitational waves generated by null particles of arbitrary multipole structure can be obtained by boosting the Weyl solutions describing static sources with arbitrary multipole moments, at least in a Minkowski background. We also discuss the possibility of boosting static sources in (anti-) de Sitter backgrounds, for which exact solutions are not known, to obtain the known solutions for null multipole particles in these backgrounds.

Non-expanding impulsive gravitational waves

We investigate a class of impulsive gravitational waves which propagate either in Minkowski or in the (anti-) de Sitter background. These waves are constructed as impulsive members of the Kundt class of non-twisting, non-expanding type-N solutions of vacuum Einstein equations with a cosmological constant . We show that the only non-trivial waves of this type in Minkowski spacetime are impulsive pp-waves. For we demonstrate that the canonical subclasses of , which are invariantly different for smooth profiles, are all locally equivalent for impulsive profiles. Also, we present a coordinate system for these impulsive solutions which is explicitly continuous.

Lightlike signals in general relativity and cosmology

The modelling of light-like signals in general relativity taking the form of impulsive gravitational waves and light-like shells of matter is examined. Systematic deductions from the Bianchi identities are made. These are based upon Penrose's hierarchical classification of the geometry induced on the null hypersurface history of the signal by its embedding in the space-times to the future and to the past of it. The signals are not confined to propagate in a vacuum and thus their interaction with matter (a burst of radiation propagating through a cosmic fluid, for example) is also studied. Results are accompanied by illustrative examples using cosmological models, vacuum space-times, the de Sitter universe and Minkowskian space-time.

Geodesics and geodesic deviation for impulsive gravitational waves

The geometry of impulsive pp-waves is explored via the analysis of the geodesic and geodesic deviation equation using the distributional form of the metric. The geodesic equation involves formally ill-defined products of distributions due to the nonlinearity of the equations and the presence of the Dirac δ-distribution in the space–time metric. Thus, strictly speaking, it cannot be treated within Schwartz’s linear theory of distributions. To cope with this difficulty we proceed by first regularizing the δ-singularity, then solving the regularized equation within classical smooth functions and, finally, obtaining a distributional limit as solution to the original problem. Furthermore, it is shown that this limit is independent of the regularization without requiring any additional condition, thereby confirming earlier results in a mathematically rigorous fashion. We also treat the Jacobi equation which, despite being linear in the deviation vector field, involves even more delicate singular expressions, like the “square” of the Dirac δ-distribution. Again the same regularization procedure provides us with a perfectly well behaved smooth regularization and a regularization-independent distributional limit. Hence it is concluded that the geometry of impulsive pp-waves can be described consistently using distributions as long as careful regularization procedures are used to handle the ill-defined products.