Non-expanding impulsive gravitational waves

Abstract

We investigate a class of impulsive gravitational waves which propagate either in Minkowski or in the (anti-)de Sitter background. These waves are constructed as impulsive members of the Kundt class $P(Λ)$ of non-twisting, non-expanding type N solutions of vacuum Einstein equations with a cosmological constant $Λ$. We show that the only non-trivial waves of this type in Minkowski spacetime are impulsive pp-waves. For $Λ\not=0$ we demonstrate that the canonical subclasses of $P(Λ)$, which are invariantly different for smooth profiles, are all locally equivalent for impulsive profiles. Also, we present coordinate system for these impulsive solutions which is explicitly continuous.