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arXiv · 2203.16216

The Precession Caused by Gravitational Waves

Ali Seraj·Blagoje Oblak
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Abstract

We show that gravitational waves cause freely falling gyroscopes to precess relative to fixed distant stars, extending the stationary Lense-Thirring effect. The precession rate decays as the square of the inverse distance to the source, and is proportional to a suitable Noether current for dual asymptotic symmetries at null infinity. Integrating the rate over time yields a net rotation -- a `gyroscopic memory' -- whose angle reproduces the known spin memory effect but also contains an extra contribution due to the generator of gravitational electric-magnetic duality. The angle's order of magnitude for the first LIGO signal is estimated to be $\Phi\sim 10^{-35}$ arcseconds near Earth, but the effect may be substantially larger for supermassive black hole mergers.

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Ali Seraj, Blagoje Oblak. 2022-03-30. The Precession Caused by Gravitational Waves. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.129.061101

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