Gertsenshtein effect on the spacetime curved by background magnetic field with geometric optics

Abstract

When electromagnetic (or gravitational) waves propagate in the presence of a background magnetic field, a portion of the waves converts into gravitational (or electromagnetic) waves. This phenomenon, known as the (inverse) Gertsenshtein effect, is typically analyzed in Minkowski spacetime, neglecting the spacetime curvature induced by the magnetic field itself. This paper investigates, for the first time, the influence of spacetime curvature on the (inverse) Gertsenshtein effect. To this end, we first determine the metric perturbation from Minkowski spacetime up to second order in the magnetic field strength, assuming cylindrical symmetry. We also discuss the ambiguities in the form of the metric perturbation arising from gauge freedom and boundary conditions. Using the geometric optics approximation, we then derive a set of coupled equations governing the propagation of electromagnetic and gravitational waves in the resulting curved spacetime. These equations are solved for two specific scenarios: a plane wave and a spherical wave. From the solutions, we compute the evolution of the wave amplitudes and the associated energy fluxes. Our analysis reveals that two competing effects govern the amplitude evolution: magnification due to the focusing of waves by spacetime curvature, and attenuation due to wave conversion via the Gertsenshtein effect. In the plane wave case, these effects precisely cancel, resulting in no net change in amplitude. In contrast, for the spherical wave, the Gertsenshtein effect dominates over focusing, leading to an overall reduction in amplitude.