Peeling properties of lightlike signals in General Relativity

The peeling properties of a lightlike signal propagating through a general Bondi-Sachs vacuum spacetime and leaving behind another Bondi-Sachs vacuum space-time are studied. We demonstrate that in general the peeling behavior is the conventional one which is associated with a radiating isolated system and that it becomes unconventional if the asymptotically flat space-times on either side of the history of the light-like signal tend to flatness at future null infinity faster than the general Bondi-Sachs space-time. This latter situation occurs if, for example, the space-times in question are static Bondi-Sachs space- times.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX2

Comparison of the Sachs-Wolfe Effect for Gaussian and Non-Gaussian Fluctuations

A consequence of non-Gaussian perturbations on the Sachs-Wolfe effect is studied. For a particular power spectrum, predicted Sachs-Wolfe effects are calculated for two cases: Gaussian (random phase) configuration, and a specific kind of non-Gaussian configuration. We obtain a result that the Sachs-Wolfe effect for the latter case is smaller when each temperature fluctuation is properly normalized with respect to the corresponding mass fluctuation ${\delta M\over M}(R)$. The physical explanation and the generality of the result are discussed.Comment: 16 page

Constant mean curvature slicings of Kantowski-Sachs spacetimes

We investigate existence, uniqueness, and the asymptotic properties of constant mean curvature (CMC) slicings in vacuum Kantowski-Sachs spacetimes with positive cosmological constant. Since these spacetimes violate the strong energy condition, most of the general theorems on CMC slicings do not apply. Although there are in fact Kantowski-Sachs spacetimes with a unique CMC foliation or CMC time function, we prove that there also exist Kantowski-Sachs spacetimes with an arbitrary number of (families of) CMC slicings. The properties of these slicings are analyzed in some detail

On ``hyperboloidal'' Cauchy data for vacuum Einstein equations and obstructions to smoothness of ``null infinity''

Various works have suggested that the Bondi--Sachs--Penrose decay conditions on the gravitational field at null infinity are not generally representative of asymptotically flat space--times. We have made a detailed analysis of the constraint equations for ``asymptotically hyperboloidal'' initial data and find that log terms arise generically in asymptotic expansions. These terms are absent in the corresponding Bondi--Sachs--Penrose expansions, and can be related to explicit geometric quantities. We have nevertheless shown that there exists a large class of ``non--generic'' solutions of the constraint equations, the evolution of which leads to space--times satisfying the Bondi--Sachs--Penrose smoothness conditions.Comment: 8 pages, revtex styl

On the structure and applications of the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs group

This work is a pedagogical review dedicated to a modern description of the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs group. The curved space-times that will be taken into account are the ones that suitably approach, at infinity, Minkowski space-time. In particular we will focus on asymptotically flat space-times. In this work the concept of asymptotic symmetry group of those space-times will be studied. In the first two sections we derive the asymptotic group following the classical approach which was basically developed by Bondi, van den Burg, Metzner and Sachs. This is essentially the group of transformations between coordinate systems of a certain type in asymptotically flat space-times. In the third section the conformal method and the notion of asymptotic simplicity are introduced, following mainly the works of Penrose. This section prepares us for another derivation of the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs group which will involve the conformal structure, and is thus more geometrical and fundamental. In the subsequent sections we discuss the properties of the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs group, e.g. its algebra and the possibility to obtain as its subgroup the Poincar\'e group, as we may expect. The paper ends with a review of the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs invariance properties of classical gravitational scattering discovered by Strominger, that are finding application to black hole physics and quantum gravity in the literature.Comment: 62 pages, 9 figures. Misprints have been amended and two important references have been adde

The Goldberg-Sachs theorem in linearized gravity

The Goldberg-Sachs theorem has been very useful in constructing algebraically special exact solutions of Einstein vacuum equation. Most of the physical meaningful vacuum exact solutions are algebraically special. We show that the Goldberg-Sachs theorem is not true in linearized gravity. This is a remarkable result, which gives light on the understanding of the physical meaning of the linearized solutions.Comment: 6 pages, no figures, LaTeX 2

Why does gravitational radiation produce vorticity?

We calculate the vorticity of world--lines of observers at rest in a Bondi--Sachs frame, produced by gravitational radiation, in a general Sachs metric. We claim that such an effect is related to the super--Poynting vector, in a similar way as the existence of the electromagnetic Poynting vector is related to the vorticity in stationary electrovacum spacetimes.Comment: 9 pages; to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit