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arXiv · 1402.1401

Generating a Cosmological Constant with Gravitational Waves

C. Barrabès·P. A. Hogan
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Abstract

A technique is given to derive the well known Bell-Szekeres solution of the Einstein-Maxwell vacuum field equations describing the space-time and the Maxwell field following the head-on collision of two homogeneous, plane, electromagnetic shock waves. The analogue of this technique is then utilized to construct the space-time model of the gravitational field following the head-on collision of two homogeneous, plane, gravitational shock waves. The latter collision, which is followed by a pair of impulsive gravitational waves and a pair of light like shells traveling away from each other, provides a mechanism for generating a cosmological constant which may be important in the theoretical description of dark energy.

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C. Barrabès, P. A. Hogan. 2014-02-06. Generating a Cosmological Constant with Gravitational Waves. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10714-013-1635-5

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