Singularities and horizons in the collisions of gravitational waves

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:6584202

Yurtsever, U H

This thesis presents a study of the dynamical, nonlinear interaction of colliding gravitational waves, as described by classical general relativity. In the work on the collisions of exactly-plane waves, it is shown that Killing horizons in any plane-symmetric spacetime are unstable against small plane-symmetric perturbations. It is thus concluded that the Killing-Cauchy horizons produced by the collisions of some exactly plane gravitational waves are nongeneric, and the generic initial data for the colliding plane waves always produce pure spacetime singularities without such horizons. This conclusion is later proved rigorously (using the full nonlinear theory rather than perturbation theory), in connection with an analysis of the asymptotic singularity structure of a general colliding plane-wave spacetime. This analysis also proves that asymptotically the singularities created by colliding plane waves are of inhomogeneous-Kasner type; the asymptotic Kasner axes and exponents of these singularities in general depend on the spatial coordinate that runs tangentially to the singularity in the non-plane-symmetric direction. In the work on collisions of almost-plane gravitational waves, first some general properties of single almost-plane gravitational-wave spacetimes are explored. It is shown that, by contrast with an exact plane wave, an almost-plane gravitational wave cannot have a propagation direction that is Killing; i.e., it must diffract and disperse as it propagates. It is also shown that an almost-plane wave cannot be precisely sandwiched between two null wave-fronts; i.e., it must leave behind tails in the spacetime region through which is passes.

• Research Organization: California Inst. of Tech., Pasadena, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6584202
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

657003* -- Theoretical & Mathematical Physics-- Relativity & Gravitation
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CLASSICAL MECHANICS
COLLISIONS
DISTURBANCES
DYNAMICS
FIELD THEORIES
GENERAL RELATIVITY THEORY
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
INTERACTIONS
MECHANICS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
SINGULARITY
SPACE-TIME
SYMMETRY
WAVE PROPAGATION