Generating Electromagnetic Waves from Gravity Waves in Cosmology

Abstract

Examples of test electromagnetic waves on a Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker(FLRW) background are constructed from explicit perturbations of the FLRW space-times describing gravitational waves propagating in the isotropic universes. A possible physical mechanism for the production of the test electromagnetic waves is shown to be the coupling of the gravitational waves with a test magnetic field, confirming the observation of Marklund, Dunsby and Brodin [Phys.Rev. D62,101501(R) (2000)].