The Lukash metric is a homogeneous gravitational wave which at late times approximates the behaviour of a generic class of spatially homogenous cosmological models with monotonically decreasing energy density. The transcription from Brinkmann to Baldwin-Jeffery-Rosen (BJR) to Bianchi coordinates is presented and the relation to a Sturm-Liouville equation is explained. The 6-parameter isometry group is derived. In the Bianchi VII range of parameters we have two BJR transciptions. However using either of them induces a mere relabeling of the geodesics and isometries. Following pioneering work of Siklos, we provide a self-contained account of the geometry and global structure of the spacetime. The latter contains a Killing horizon to the future of which the spacetime resembles an anisotropic version of the Milne cosmology and to the past of which it resemble the Rindler wedge.
In this paper we return to the subject of Jacobi metrics for timelike and null geodsics in stationary spactimes, correcting some previous misconceptions. We show that not only null geodesics, but also timelike geodesics are governed by a Jacobi-Maupertuis type variational principle and a Randers-Finsler metric for which we give explicit formulae. The cases of the Taub-NUT and Kerr spacetimes are discussed in detail. Finally we show how our Jacobi-Maupertuis Randers-Finsler metric may be expressed in terms of the effective medium describing the behaviour of Maxwells equations in the curved spacetime. In particular, we see in very concrete terms how the magnetolectric susceptibility enters the Jacobi-Maupertuis-Randers-Finsler function.
It is shown that Ashtekar and Hansenss Universal Structure at Spatial Infinity (SPI), which has recently be used to establish the conservation of supercharges from past null infity to future null infinity, is an example of a (pseudo-) Carollian structure. The relation to Kinematic Algebras is clarified.
We propose a simple model of entanglement generated by geometry, studying non-relativistic massive Levy-Leblond fermions in the $1+2$ geometry of a Bronnikov-Ellis wormhole. The model is equivalent to that of relativistic massless Dirac fermions in $1+3$ dimensions, where one spatial direction is flat. The effect of the wormhole is to generate quantum states that, far from the throat, are approximated by entangled particles on two flat, separated spacetime regions. An appealing feature of the model is that it has a condensed matter analogue, the regime of intermediate energies for two planes of bilayer graphene linked by a bilayer carbon nanotube. Therefore we expect that it might be possible to realize in the laboratory the entangled states studied here. We argue that generalisations of our solvable model which preserve the topology will have similar quantum behaviour.
For a plane gravitational wave whose profile is given, in Brinkmann coordinates, by a $2times2$ symmetric traceless matrix $K(U)$, the matrix Sturm-Liouville equation $ddot{P}=KP$ plays a multiple and central r^ole: (i) it determines the isometries, (ii) it appears as the key tool for switching from Brinkmann to BJR coordinates and vice versa, (iii) it determines the trajectories of particles initially at rest. All trajectories can be obtained from trivial Carrollian ones by a suitable action of the (broken) Carrollian isometry group.
The gravitational memory effect due to an exact plane wave provides us with an elementary description of the diffeomorphisms associated with soft gravitons. It is explained how the presence of the latter may be detected by observing the motion of freely falling particles or other forms of gravitational wave detection. Numerical calculations confirm the relevance of the first, second and third time integrals of the Riemann tensor pointed out earlier. Solutions for various profiles are constructed. It is also shown how to extend our treatment to Einstein-Maxwell plane waves and a midi-superspace quantization is given.
We give an account of the gravitational memory effect in the presence of the exact plane wave solution of Einsteins vacuum equations. This allows an elementary but exact description of the soft gravitons and how their presence may be detected by observing the motion of freely falling particles. The theorem of Bondi and Pirani on caustics (for which we present a new proof) implies that the asymptotic relative velocity is constant but not zero, in contradiction with the permanent displacement claimed by Zeldovich and Polnarev. A non-vanishing asymptotic relative velocity might be used to detect gravitational waves through the velocity memory effect, considered by Braginsky, Thorne, Grishchuk, and Polnarev.
It is shown that the free motion of massive particles moving in static spacetimes are given by the geodesics of an energy-dependent Riemannian metric on the spatial sections analogous to Jacobis metric in classical dynamics. In the massless limit Jacobis metric coincides with the energy independent Fermat or optical metric. For stationary metrics, it is known that the motion of massless particles is given by the geodesics of an energy independent Finslerian metric of Randers type. The motion of massive particles is governed by neither a Riemannian nor a Finslerian metric. The properies of the Jacobi metric for massive particles moving outside the horizon of a Schwarschild black hole are described. By constrast with the massless case, the Gaussian curvature of the equatorial sections is not always negative.
