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arXiv · 1903.09690

Evanescent Gravitational Waves

Sebastian Golat·Eugene A. Lim·Francisco J. Rodríguez-Fortuño
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Abstract

We describe the properties of evanescent gravitational waves (EGWs)---wave solutions of Einstein equations which decay exponentially in some direction while propagating in another. Evanescent waves are well-known in acoustics and optics and have recently received much attention due to their extraordinary properties such as their transverse spin and spin-momentum locking. We show that EGWs possess similarly remarkable properties, carrying transverse spin angular momenta and driving freely falling test masses along in elliptical trajectories. Hence, test masses on a plane transverse to the direction of propagation exhibit correlated vector and scalar-like deformation---correlations which can be used to distinguish it from modified gravity. We demonstrate that EGWs are present and dominant in the vicinity of sub-wavelength sources such as orbiting binaries.

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Sebastian Golat, Eugene A. Lim, Francisco J. Rodríguez-Fortuño. 2019-03-22. Evanescent Gravitational Waves. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.101.084046

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