Generalized pp waves in Poincar\'e gauge theory

Abstract

Starting from the generalized pp waves that are exact vacuum solutions of general relativity with a cosmological constant, we construct a new family of exact vacuum solutions of Poincar\'e gauge theory, the generalized pp waves with torsion. The ansatz for torsion is chosen in accordance with the wave nature of the solutions. For a subfamily of these solutions, the metric is dynamically determined by the torsion.