Gravitational Waves: Problem Set 2 Due: Monday, November 14

Ch. Markakis and N. K. Johnson-McDaniel November 1 Problem 1 Rotating triaxial ellipsoid

Haumea is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt. It is massive enough to have been rounded by its own gravity, but it appears to be far from spherical. It is thought to be a Jacobi spheroid, that is, a triaxial ellipsoid whose shape results from its rapid rotation. It has (approximately) mass M = 4 1021 kg, semi-axes a1 a2 a3 = 955 759 498 km, rotation period T = 3.9 hours and distance from the sun D 40000 AU. a) Suppose that the spheroid is homogeneous and is spinning about the z = x3 axis which corresponds to the ellipsoids smallest principal axis. Compute the moments of inertia I1 < I2 < I3 about each principal axis in terms of a1 , a2 , a3 and M. (Hint: The volume integrals are easily evaluated if you use a linear coordinate transformation to map the ellipsoidal domain into a spherical domain, and then exploit symmetry.) b) Suppose that at time t = 0 the inertia tensor Iinertia is diagonal, that is, the x = x1 axis kl and the y = x2 axis also correspond to principal axes of inertia: I1 0 0 Iinertia (0) = 0 I2 0 . kl 0 0 I3 Find the inertia tensor Iinertia (t) at time t. N.B.: This inertia tensor is given by Iinertia = kl kl (r2 kl xk xl )d3 x; recall that the quadrupole moment tensor used in the quadrupole formula is Ikl = xk xl d3 x.

c) Using the quadrupole formula, compute the two polarizations of gravitational wave radiation h+ (t) and h (t) in TT gauge. (You can use the inertia tensor computed in part b for this purpose, since Iinertia = Ikl .) For simplicity, take the observer to be located kl 3 along the x axis and the polarization vectors to be in the x1 - and x2 -directions. Evaluate the wave amplitude at the Earths orbit and compare it to the sensitivity of LISA at that frequency (L/L 2 1021 ). Are the waves detectable? d) Also, for what one would detect at the Earths orbit to be true gravitational waves, one needs to be well into Haumeas wave zone (i.e., many reduced gravitational wavelengths [ := /2] away from the source). Is this in fact true?

Problem 2

Geodesic deviation

As discussed in class, the relative velocity and relative acceleration of two nearby geodesic observers P(x ) and Q(x + ) are respectively given by v = u a = u where u = dx /d. a) Write down the geodesic equation for observer P and for observer Q. b) Use equations (1), (2) and the fact that x and x + obey the geodesic equation to show that a = R u u to lowest order in . d + u d dv + u v v = d

(1) (2)

Problem 3

Tidal forces

Using the Newtonian deviation equation: a) Estimate the relative tidal acceleration between your head and your toes as you are standing on the surface of the Earth. b) Repeat the estimate when you are standing on the surface of a neutron star of radius 10 km and mass 1.4 M . Give your estimates in S.I. units. You may assume spherical symmetry and ignore any rotation. Extra credit: perform the above estimates in general relativity using Schwarzschild coordinates.

Problem 4

Conservation identity

Show that the identity 1 1 00 (xk xl T 00 ) + s (xk T ls + xl T ks ) sv (xk xl T sv ) = T kl 2 2 follows from conservation of the stress-energy tensor ( T = 0). (Hint: First show that 00 T 00 = kl T kl .)

Gravitational Waves

PS 2