Gravitational wave

A gravitational wave is a propagating disturbance of spacetime curvature produced by changing mass-energy multipole moments.

In the weak-field, short-wavelength averaging regime, a transverse-traceless tensor strain $H_{ij}$ carries the displayed effective stress-energy tensor in units $c=1$. The average spans several wave periods while remaining small compared with the background curvature scale. The stress is second order in amplitude, so it is absent from a first-order vacuum Linearized Einstein equations calculation. For a plane wave, summing the two equal transverse diagonal contributions gives flux $(16\pi G{)}^{-1}⟨{\dot{H}}_{+}^2+{\dot{H}}_{\times }^2⟩$. This effective averaged stress is not an arbitrary pointwise gravitational energy tensor.

An exact axial Killing vector field makes Komar angular momentum independent of the surrounding vacuum surface. Therefore gravitational waves in a configuration with exact axisymmetry carry no net angular momentum about that symmetry axis, although they can carry energy. This is specific to axial angular momentum; it is not an absence of radiation.

The gravitational-wave frequency is the temporal oscillation frequency of a radiative metric perturbation. A rigid source rotating with angular frequency $\omega$ and invariant under a half-turn radiates dominantly at angular frequency $2\omega$.

The trace-free mass quadrupole moment of a mass distribution isIt is the leading time-dependent mass multipole that can radiate in general relativity: mass conservation removes monopole radiation, while momentum conservation removes mass-dipole radiation.

For a symmetric stress-energy tensor with compact support and ${\partial }_b{T}^{ab}=0$ in Minkowski spacetime, let $I^{ij}=\int T^{00}{x}^i{x}^j{d}^{3}x$. Two integrations by parts give ${\dot{I}}^{ij}=\int (T^{0i}{x}^j+T^{0j}{x}^i)d^{3}x$ and the displayed identity. Compact support removes the boundary fluxes. The support should stay bounded over the time interval used when differentiating the integrals.

The second mass moment tensor records the quadratic spatial distribution of mass. Its trace-free part is the mass quadrupole moment $Q_{ij}=I_{ij}-{\delta }_{ij}{I}_{kk}/3$. The mechanical moment-of-inertia tensor instead equals $J_{ij}={\delta }_{ij}{I}_{kk}-I_{ij}$. A rigid rotation $L$ transforms the second mass moment tensor as $I(t)=L(t)I(0)L(t{)}^T$.

The scalar second mass moment is the trace of the second mass moment tensor. The moment of inertia about a specified axis instead integrates squared distance from that axis. For an isotropic distribution each axial moment of inertia is $2I/3$; the sum over three orthogonal axes is $2I$.

For a slowly moving isolated source, the leading gravitational-wave luminosity iswhere $Q_{ij}$ is the trace-free mass quadrupole moment.

In units $c=1$, a slowly moving isolated source has trace-free mass quadrupole moment $Q^{ij}=\int T^{00}(x^i{x}^j-{\delta }^{ij}|\mathbf{x}{|}^2/3)d^{3}x$. The retarded linearized gravity solution and the stress-energy quadrupole identity give the displayed physical spatial strain, with $\mathbf{n}=\mathbf{x}/r$ and the transverse-traceless projector $\Lambda$. If the spatial metric is written $g_{ij}=-{\delta }_{ij}-2E_{ij}$ for metric signature $(+---)$, its trace-free Lorenz-gauge coefficient before the transverse projection is $E_{ij}=G{\ddot{Q}}_{ij}(t-r)/r$. Thus $H^{\mathrm{TT}}=2E^{\mathrm{TT}}$. Far distance alone does not permit dropping source-dependent retardation: the quadrupole approximation also requires the source size to be small compared with the radiation wavelength.

For a weakly self-gravitating bound source of size $R$, mass $M$ and nonspherical dynamical mass quadrupole moment $Q=O(M{R}^2)$, the virial theorem gives $v^2=O(GM/R)=O(ϵ)$. Its time scale is $R/v$, so $\ddot{Q}=O(M{v}^2)$. The far-zone quadrupole strain then has a spatial half-strain coefficient $E=O(GM{v}^2/r)=O({ϵ}^{2}R/r)$ in units $c=1$. The physical transverse-traceless strain is $2E^{\mathrm{TT}}$. Spherical or stationary sources can have zero radiation, so this is a characteristic scale for a changing nonspherical quadrupole, not a positive lower bound. The radiation zone also requires $r\gg R/v$.

Two equal masses $m$ orbiting their centre of mass at radius $R$ have separation $2R$. Newton's law of universal gravitation gives the displayed orbital frequency. Their mass quadrupole moment varies at twice that frequency, producing gravitational radiation with two gravitational wave polarizations. For inclination $\iota$, its leading plus and cross amplitudes are proportional to $1+{\cos }^2\iota$ and $2\cos \iota$, respectively. Face-on radiation is circularly polarized; edge-on radiation is linearly polarized.

The dimensionless ratio of gravitational radius to orbital scale measures how relativistic a bound orbit is. In an equal-mass circular binary with individual orbital radius $R$, the leading quadrupole formula gives $P=(2/5)(c^5/G)[GM/(R{c}^2){]}^5$. Compact objects permit smaller noncontact orbits than extended stars and hence larger orbital compactness; near merger the Newtonian approximation must be replaced.

For two masses $M$ at opposite points of a circular orbit, each at radius $R$ from the centre of mass, ${\Omega }^2=GM/(4R^3)$. The trace-free mass quadrupole moment oscillates at twice the orbital frequency, and its third-derivative squared contraction is $128M^2{R}^4{\Omega }^6$. The quadrupole formula gives the displayed phase-independent luminosity. Using separation $2R$ rather than individual radius $R$ avoids a factor-of-32 error.

For two equal point masses at $\pm z$ falling from rest at $\pm z_0$ under Newtonian gravity, in geometrized units one has $\ddot{z}=-m/(4z^2)$ and $\dot{z}=-\sqrt{m(1/z-1/z_0)/2}$. The only nonzero component of the second mass moment tensor is $I_{zz}=2m{z}^2$, and its third derivative is $-m^2\dot{z}/z^2$. The trace-free mass quadrupole moment and quadrupole formula give the displayed power. From infinity, integrating down to $z=z_c$ gives $E=2\sqrt{2}{m}^{9/2}/(105z_c^{7/2})$. Relative to the total initial mass $2m$ the fraction is $\sqrt{2}(m/z_c{)}^{7/2}/105$. The weak-field slow-motion approximation must be distinguished from its extrapolation to a compact endpoint.

For a point mass moving as $z=L\cos \omega t$ along one fixed axis, the trace-free mass quadrupole moment is $m{L}^2{\cos }^2\omega t\mathrm{diag}(-1/3,-1/3,2/3)$. Its radiating component has twice the source angular frequency. The quadrupole formula gives $⟨P⟩=16G{m}^2{L}^4{\omega }^6/(15c^5)$ for this contribution in the leading slow-motion weak-field approximation. Any physical driver or support has its own quadrupole contribution; this expression is for the prescribed mass alone.

For a slowly evolving circular binary star with separation $a$, reduced mass $\mu$ and orbital angular frequency $\Omega$, the leading gravitational wave losses satisfy $\dot{E}=\Omega \dot{J}$. One direct check uses the standard quadrupole angular-momentum loss lawwhere $Q$ is the mass quadrupole moment and ${ϵ}_{ijk}$ is the Levi-Civita symbol. For $\mathbf{r}=a(\cos \Omega t,\sin \Omega t,0)$, put $A=\mu a^2$; then $Q_{xx}=A(1/6+\cos (2\Omega t)/2)$, $Q_{yy}=A(1/6-\cos (2\Omega t)/2)$, $Q_{xy}=A\sin (2\Omega t)/2$, and $Q_{zz}=-A/3$. Substitution gives ${\dot{J}}_z=-32G{A}^2{\Omega }^5/(5c^5)$ and the quadrupole formula gives $\dot{E}=-32G{A}^2{\Omega }^6/(5c^5)$. Their ratio proves the balance relation. The same relation follows from the rotating wave's angular harmonic number two and frequency $2\Omega$. The additional angular-momentum flux law, not the energy flux alone, is needed to justify preservation of secular circularity.

For a Newtonian Kepler orbit, let $M=M_1+M_2$ be the total mass and $\mu =M_1{M}_2/M$ the reduced mass; put $k=GM$, $\mathbf{n}=\mathbf{r}/r$, $u=\dot{r}$ and ${\mathbf{v}}_{\perp }=\dot{\mathbf{r}}-u\mathbf{n}$, with $v^2=\dot{\mathbf{r}}\cdot \dot{\mathbf{r}}$. In the convention $q_{ij}=\mu (3r_i{r}_j-r^2{\delta }_{ij})/2$, differentiating the acceleration $\ddot{\mathbf{r}}=-k\mathbf{r}/r^3$ givesThe two terms have zero cross tensor contraction, with squared norms $6u^2$ and $72v_{\perp }^2$. Therefore ${\stackrel{...}{q}}_{ij}{\stackrel{...}{q}}_{ij}=72{\mu }^2{k}^2(v^2-11u^2/12)/r^4$. Substitution into the quadrupole formula in this convention, $L=4G{\stackrel{...}{q}}_{ij}{\stackrel{...}{q}}_{ij}/(45c^5)$, proves the luminosity. It is nonnegative since $v^2-11u^2/12=v_{\perp }^2+u^2/12$. The formula uses a weak gravitational field, slow motion and leading radiation order; orbital averaging gives a secular luminosity.

For a rigid body rotating around its third principal axis, the anisotropic part of its second mass moment tensor oscillates at angular frequency $2\Omega$. The quadrupole formula gives the displayed luminosity. Equal transverse principal moments remove this rotating quadrupole and its leading gravitational wave emission.

In the radiation zone, the time-averaged energy flux of a weak wave in transverse-traceless gauge isCombining this with the far-zone quadrupole field and integrating over directions gives the quadrupole formula.

The Newman--Penrose formalism resolves spacetime curvature into scalars by contracting the Weyl tensor with a complex null tetrad.

A complex null tetrad consists of two real null vectors and a complex-conjugate transverse pair, normalized so that the metric is reconstructed from their pairwise products.

For a null tetrad $(\ell ,k,m,\bar{m})$, one common curvature-sign convention defines ${\Psi }_4=C_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }{k}^{\mu }{\bar{m}}^{\nu }{k}^{\rho }{\bar{m}}^{\sigma }$. In an outgoing wave zone it encodes the two transverse gravitational wave polarizations as one complex scalar.

Forthe only potentially nonzero Ricci component isThe vacuum equation is therefore the transverse Laplace equation.

For $d{s}^2=-2dudv+d{x}^2+d{y}^2-2H(u,x,y)d{u}^2$, the nonzero connections are ${\Gamma }_{uu}^v=H_u$, ${\Gamma }_{ux}^v=H_x$, ${\Gamma }_{uy}^v=H_y$, ${\Gamma }_{uu}^x=H_x$, and ${\Gamma }_{uu}^y=H_y$, with symmetric lower indices. Their traces and quadratic Ricci products vanish, leaving only the displayed Ricci component. Hence the vacuum equations require a harmonic transverse profile. The sign is tied to the metric's $-2Hd{u}^2$ convention.

For a Brinkmann plane wave whose transverse profile is quadratic, Killing fields obtained from solutions of transverse oscillator equations act transitively on every constant-retarded-time wavefront. Each wavefront is therefore a homogeneous null hypersurface.

Rosen coordinates put a plane wave into the transverse-metric formFor diagonal $g_{AB}=\mathrm{diag}(f^2,g^2)$, the only potentially nonzero Ricci tensor component is $R_{uu}=-f^{\prime \prime }/f-g^{\prime \prime }/g$.

For $g=-d{t}^2+A(u{)}^{2}d{x}^2+B(u{)}^{2}d{y}^2+d{z}^2$, $u=t-z$, with nowhere-zero smooth $A,B$, take $e^0=dt$, $e^1=Adx$, $e^2=Bdy$, $e^3=dz$, $\ell =du$. In signature $(-,+,+,+)$, Cartan's first structure equation and metric compatibility give the lower-index connection 1-forms ${\omega }_{01}={\omega }_{13}=-(A^{\prime }/A)e^1$ and ${\omega }_{02}={\omega }_{23}=-(B^{\prime }/B)e^2$. Cartan's second structure equation gives ${\Theta }_{01}={\Theta }_{13}=-(A^{\prime \prime }/A)\ell \wedge e^1$ and ${\Theta }_{02}={\Theta }_{23}=-(B^{\prime \prime }/B)\ell \wedge e^2$. All other independent curvature 2-forms vanish: in particular the $12$ component cancels between the time and longitudinal terms. Contracting $R^a{}_{bad}$ yields $\mathrm{Ric}=-(A^{\prime \prime }/A+B^{\prime \prime }/B)du\otimes du$. Thus the Vacuum Einstein equations are $A^{\prime \prime }/A+B^{\prime \prime }/B=0$, while nonzero $A^{\prime \prime }/A=-B^{\prime \prime }/B$ gives opposite transverse tidal curvatures and plus polarization relative to these axes.

A gravitational-wave pulse has curvature supported in a bounded interval of retarded time. Spacetime can be flat both before and after the pulse even though freely falling bodies retain a displacement or relative velocity produced while the pulse passed.

The gravitational-wave memory effect is a lasting change in the relative configuration of freely falling test bodies after a transient gravitational wave has passed.

Displacement memory is a persistent change in the separation of freely falling bodies after a gravitational-wave pulse.

Velocity memory is a persistent change in the relative velocity of freely falling bodies after a gravitational-wave pulse.