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arXiv · 1804.07290

Screw-symmetric gravitational waves: a double copy of the vortex

A. Ilderton
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Abstract

Plane gravitational waves can admit a sixth `screw' isometry beyond the usual five. The same is true of plane electromagnetic waves. From the point of view of integrable systems, a sixth isometry would appear to over-constrain particle dynamics in such waves; we show here, though, that no effect of the sixth isometry is independent of those from the usual five. Many properties of particle dynamics in a screw-symmetric gravitational wave are also seen in a (non-plane-wave) electromagnetic vortex; we make this connection explicit, showing that the screw-symmetric gravitational wave is the classical double copy of the vortex.

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A. Ilderton. 2018-04-19. Screw-symmetric gravitational waves: a double copy of the vortex. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2018.04.069

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