What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

Gravitational Waves

Udit Gupta

University at Albany

18th April 2016

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

Outline

What are Gravitational Waves?

-Ripples in Spacetime
-Detecting Gravitational Waves

Structure of Spacetime
-Special Relativity
-General Relativity

How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

Linearized Field Equations
-Wave Equations

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-Ripples in Spacetime

Outline

What are Gravitational Waves?

-Ripples in Spacetime
-Detecting Gravitational Waves

Structure of Spacetime
-Special Relativity
-General Relativity

How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

Linearized Field Equations
-Wave Equations

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-Ripples in Spacetime

 Gravitational waves are a

literal rippling of normally
flat spacetime.

 Strong gravitational events

induce gravitational
radiation.

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-Ripples in Spacetime

 This effect is (almost)

immeasurably small.

 Recent LIGO detection of

collapse of binary black hole
system h = ∆x −21
x ≈ 10

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-Detecting Gravitational Waves

Outline

What are Gravitational Waves?

-Ripples in Spacetime
-Detecting Gravitational Waves

Structure of Spacetime
-Special Relativity
-General Relativity

How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

Linearized Field Equations
-Wave Equations

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-Detecting Gravitational Waves

LIGO

 2 perpendicular 4km long

arms with 11-kg test masses
at each end.

 Advanced LIGO upgrade can

measure displacements less
than 1/10,000 the diameter
of an atomic nucleus

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-Detecting Gravitational Waves

GW150914

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-Special Relativity

Outline

What are Gravitational Waves?

-Ripples in Spacetime
-Detecting Gravitational Waves

Structure of Spacetime
-Special Relativity
-General Relativity

How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

Linearized Field Equations
-Wave Equations

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-Special Relativity

How do we describe regular, flat spacetime?

Invariant spacetime interval:

ds2 = −(cdt)2 + dx2 + dy 2 + dz 2

Flat spacetime metric:

−c2 0 0
 
0
 0 1 0 0 
ηµν = 
 0 0 1

0 
0 0 0 1

The metric encodes information

about distance between points in
spacetime.
Udit Gupta CNSE
Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-Special Relativity

What is the path taken by light?

Light doesn’t experience any
proper time:
ds2 = 0

ds2 = −(cdt)2 + dx2 = 0

dx
⇒ dt =c

Setting the spacetime interval to

zero gives null geodesics. Extent
of observable future and past is
inside the lightcones.

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-Special Relativity

What happens to light cones in a curved spacetime?

 Light cone tilts

near the event
horizon of a
black hole.

 Thus nothing
can escape
from a black
hole not even
light.

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-General Relativity

Outline

What are Gravitational Waves?

-Ripples in Spacetime
-Detecting Gravitational Waves

Structure of Spacetime
-Special Relativity
-General Relativity

How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

Linearized Field Equations
-Wave Equations

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-General Relativity

Principle of Equivalence

All objects follow the same trajectories in spacetime regardless of

their ”gravitational charge”.
Gmg m2
FGravity = = mi a
r2
kq1 q2
FColumb = = mi a
r2
If mi = mg , acceleration doesn’t depend on mass of object.

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-General Relativity

Einstein’s Field Equations

An accelerating reference frame is indistinguishable from gravity.

There is no such thing as a gravitational force! Acceleration is
simply matter following the geodesics (paths) of a curved
space-time. ⇒
Einstein’s Field Equations:
1
Rµν − Rgµν = 8πGTµν
2
Curvature of spacetime = Sources

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-General Relativity

Geodesic Equation

Paths taken in curved spacetime, analogous to Newton’s equation.

d2 xλ µ
λ dx dx
ν
= −Γµν
dt2 dt dt
Γλµν are Christoffel symbols in GR and they encodes information
about the derivatives of the metric:
1 ∂gαν ∂gαµ ∂gµν
Γλµν = g λα ( µ + − )
2 ∂x ∂xν ∂xα

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

Linearized Field Equations

Outline

What are Gravitational Waves?

-Ripples in Spacetime
-Detecting Gravitational Waves

Structure of Spacetime
-Special Relativity
-General Relativity

How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

Linearized Field Equations
-Wave Equations

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

Linearized Field Equations

Perturbations in Space-time

We want to get a wave equation, first assume a space-time

perturbed slightly from flat metric:

gµν = nµν + hµν

Where |hµν | << 1. The Ricci tensor is approximately the second

derivative of the metric:
∂Γλλµ ∂Γλµν
Rµν ≈ −
∂xν ∂xλ
Set sources Tµν = 0, similar to solving Laplace’s equation outside
of regions of charge.

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-Wave Equations

Outline

What are Gravitational Waves?

-Ripples in Spacetime
-Detecting Gravitational Waves

Structure of Spacetime
-Special Relativity
-General Relativity

How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

Linearized Field Equations
-Wave Equations

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-Wave Equations

Wave Equation

Plug everything into Einstein’s field equations and perform

coordinate transformation to get:

1 ∂ 2 hµν ∂ 2 hµν ∂ 2 hµν ∂ 2 hµν

2 hµν = − − − =0
c2 ∂t2 ∂x2 ∂y 2 ∂z 2
Wave equation!
∂hµν 1 hµµ
=
∂xµ 2 xν
We also have the above conditions because of our coordinate
transformation.

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-Wave Equations

Properties of Gravitational Waves

Assume a plane wave solution to wave equation:

hµν = eµν exp(ikλ xλ ) + e∗µν exp(−ikλ xλ )

Plugging in this ansatz into our wave equation and gauge

condition gives the conditions

k µ kµ = 0

and
1
kµ eµν = kν eµµ
2
These tell us that gravitational waves are massless, travel at the
speed of light and have 2 physically significant polarizations.
Udit Gupta CNSE
Gravitational Waves
What are Gravitational Waves? Structure of Spacetime How do we describe Gravitational Waves?

-Wave Equations

Gravitational waves
have two physically
significant
polarizations,
similar to
electromagnetic
waves.

Udit Gupta CNSE

Gravitational Waves