Upshifted frequency of electromagnetic plasma waves due to reflecting gravitational waves acting as almost-luminal mirrors

Felipe A. Asenjo; Swadesh M. Mahajan

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arXiv · 2406.18831

Upshifted frequency of electromagnetic plasma waves due to reflecting gravitational waves acting as almost-luminal mirrors

Felipe A. Asenjo·Swadesh M. Mahajan

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Abstract

We show that dispersive gravitational waves, as a background spacetime, can reflect electromagnetic waves in a plasma. This reflection upshifts the frequency of the reflected wave, being larger for low-frequency incident waves. This effect takes place when the gravitational wave background propagates almost at the speed of light, allowing it to behave similar to a luminal mirror to electromagnetic plasma waves.

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Felipe A. Asenjo, Swadesh M. Mahajan. 2024-06-27. Upshifted frequency of electromagnetic plasma waves due to reflecting gravitational waves acting as almost-luminal mirrors. https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.18831

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