Colliding almost-plane gravitational waves: Colliding plane waves and general properties of almost-plane-wave spacetimes
It is well known that when two precisely plane-symmetric gravitational waves propagating in an otherwise flat background collide, they focus each other so strongly as to produce a curvature singularity. This paper is the first of several devoted to almost-plane gravitational waves and their collisions. Such waves are more realistic than plane waves in having a finite but very large transverse size. In this paper we review some crucial features of the well-known exact solutions for colliding plane waves and we argue that one of these features, the breakdown of ''local inextendibility'' can be regarded as nongeneric. We then introduce a new framework for analyzing general colliding plane-wave spacetimes; we give an alternative proof of a theorem due to Tipler implying the existence of singularities in all generic colliding plane-wave solutions; and we discuss the fact that the recently constructed Chandrasekhar-Xanthopoulos colliding plane-wave solutions are not strictly plane symmetric and thus do not satisfy the conditions and the conclusion of Tipler's theorem.
- Research Organization:
- Theoretical Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125
- OSTI ID:
- 5154368
- Journal Information:
- Phys. Rev. D; (United States), Vol. 37:10
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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