Electromagnetic, gravitational, and neutrino waves in flat and curved spacetime

Thesis/Dissertation · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:5016127

Pechenick, K R

Part One of this dissertation concerns radiation in strong gravitational fields. Various problems are treated, including cosmological neutrinos, gravitational and electromagnetic waves near rotating black holes, and electromagnetic waves from pulsating stars and rotating stars. In Chapter I, ''ghost neutrinos'' (neutrinos with zero energy-momentum tensor) are considered. A new exact solution to the Einstein-Dirac equations is presented; the solution helps explain why ''ghost neutrino'' solutions appear. A special case of the solution represents ''ghost neutrinos'' in flat spacetime. The Kerr metric is considered in Chapter II. The NP (Newman-Penrose) components are calculated for electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations of this metric, and are expressed in terms of known functions. In addition, a new derivation of the Teuykolsky-Press identities is given. In Chapter III, the electromagnetic radiation from a collapsing, expending, or pulsating star with a ''frozen-in'' dipole magnetic field is calculated. Possible applications to supernovae are discussed. Polar cap emission is considered in Chapter IV. Light curves are calculated for rotating neutron stars with luminous polar caps, using geometric optics. It is shown that strong gravity can produce opposite effects dependent on the precise values of numerical parameters: it can either flatten the light curves or produce sharp peaks. The sharp peaks are caused by the gravitational lens effect.

• Research Organization: Pennsylvania Univ., Philadelphia (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5016127
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BLACK HOLES
COSMIC NEUTRINOS
COSMIC RADIATION
COSMOLOGY
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRON DENSITY
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS
FERMIONS
GRAVITATIONAL FIELDS
GRAVITATIONAL LENSES
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
IONIZING RADIATIONS
IONOSPHERE
KERR METRIC
LENSES
LEPTONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
METRICS
NEUTRINOS
NEUTRON STARS
PLANETARY IONOSPHERES
RADIATIONS
REFLECTION
SCATTERING
SPACE-TIME
STARS
SUPERNOVAE
VARIABLE STARS