Series Solution for Interaction of Scalar Plane Wave with Spatially Decaying Gravitational Wave

In this paper we present the power series solution of the Klein-Gordon equation in the spacetime background of a gravitational wave with amplitude that decays with distance from the source. The resulting solution describes the interaction of a scalar plane wave travelling in an arbitrary direction r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2023-06
Main Authors: Elder, Jesse, Fugleberg, Todd
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amplitudes
Collinearity
Gravitational waves
Klein-Gordon equation
Plane waves
Power series
Time dependence
Wave propagation
Waveforms
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Summary:In this paper we present the power series solution of the Klein-Gordon equation in the spacetime background of a gravitational wave with amplitude that decays with distance from the source. The resulting solution describes the interaction of a scalar plane wave travelling in an arbitrary direction relative to the direction of propagation of the gravitational wave. This solution has the unexpected property that as the scalar wave approaches collinearity with the gravitational wave there is a rapid transition in the form of the solution. The solution in the collinear limit exhibits a resonance phenomenon which distinguishes these results from previous analyses involving plane gravitational wave backgrounds. We discuss in detail the similarities and differences between the solutions for plane gravitational waves and gravitational waves with amplitude that decreases with distance from the source. We give an argument that this solution of the Klein-Gordon equation only describes the interaction of a gravitational wave with a scalar wave and that the gravitational wave will not produce a scalar waveform in a vacuum. The interaction between the gravitational and scalar waves lead to both sinusoidal time-dependent fluctuations in, and time-independent enhancement of, the scalar current in the direction of the gravitational wave. Finally, we discuss the possibility of observable effects of this interaction.
ISSN:2331-8422