Kinetic Energy and Angular Momentum of Free Particles in the Gyratonic pp-Waves Space-times

Abstract

Gyratonic pp-waves are exact solutions of Einstein's equations that represent non-linear gravitational waves endowed with angular momentum. We consider gyratonic pp-waves that travel in the $z$ direction and whose time dependence on the variable $u={1 \over \sqrt{2}}(z-t)$ is given by gaussians, so that the waves represent short bursts of gravitational radiation propagating in the $z$ direction. We evaluate numerically the geodesics and velocities of free particles in the space-time of these waves, and find that after the passage of the waves both the kinetic energy and the angular momentum per unit mass of the particles are changed. Therefore there is a transfer of energy and angular momentum between the gravitational field and the free particles, so that the final values of the energy and angular momentum of the free particles may be smaller or larger in magnitude than the initial values.