Bondi-Sachs energy-momentum and the energy of gravitational radiation

Abstract

We construct the gravitational energy-momentum of the Bondi-Sachs space-time, in the famework of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity (TEGR). The Bondi-Sachs line element describes gravitational radiation in the asymptotic region of the space-time, and is determined by the mass aspect and by two functions, $c$ and $d$, that yield the news functions, which are interpreted as the radiating degrees of freedom of the gravitational field. The standard expression for the Bondi-Sachs energy-momentum is constructed in terms of the mass aspect only. The expression that we obtain in the context of the TEGR is given by the standard expression, which represents the gravitational energy of the source, plus a new term that is determined by the two functions $c$ and $d$. We interpret this new term as the energy of gravitational radiation.