Spatially local energy density of gravitational waves

Abstract We propose a new set of BMS charges at null infinity, characterized by a super-translation flux that contains only the ‘hard’ term. This is achieved with a specific corner improvement of the symplectic 2-form, and we spell the conditions under which it is unique. The charges are associated...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Antoine Rignon-Bret, Simone Speziale
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-03-01
Series:Journal of High Energy Physics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2025)048
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849726776953012224
author Antoine Rignon-Bret
Simone Speziale
author_facet Antoine Rignon-Bret
Simone Speziale
author_sort Antoine Rignon-Bret
collection DOAJ
description Abstract We propose a new set of BMS charges at null infinity, characterized by a super-translation flux that contains only the ‘hard’ term. This is achieved with a specific corner improvement of the symplectic 2-form, and we spell the conditions under which it is unique. The charges are associated to a Wald-Zoupas symplectic potential, and satisfy all standard criteria: they are covariant, provide a center-less realization of the symmetry algebra, have vanishing flux in non-radiative spacetimes, and vanish in Minkowski. We use them to define a notion of spatially localized energy density of gravitational waves, and explain how it can be measured doing experiments which are purely local in space and over an extended period of time.
format Article
id doaj-art-80978e8feb374b8e9e65f84e2c4e28ae
institution DOAJ
issn 1029-8479
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher SpringerOpen
record_format Article
series Journal of High Energy Physics
spelling doaj-art-80978e8feb374b8e9e65f84e2c4e28ae2025-08-20T03:10:05ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792025-03-012025311610.1007/JHEP03(2025)048Spatially local energy density of gravitational wavesAntoine Rignon-Bret0Simone Speziale1Aix Marseille Univ., Univ. de Toulon, CNRS, CPT, UMR 7332Aix Marseille Univ., Univ. de Toulon, CNRS, CPT, UMR 7332Abstract We propose a new set of BMS charges at null infinity, characterized by a super-translation flux that contains only the ‘hard’ term. This is achieved with a specific corner improvement of the symplectic 2-form, and we spell the conditions under which it is unique. The charges are associated to a Wald-Zoupas symplectic potential, and satisfy all standard criteria: they are covariant, provide a center-less realization of the symmetry algebra, have vanishing flux in non-radiative spacetimes, and vanish in Minkowski. We use them to define a notion of spatially localized energy density of gravitational waves, and explain how it can be measured doing experiments which are purely local in space and over an extended period of time.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2025)048Classical Theories of GravitySpace-Time Symmetries
spellingShingle Antoine Rignon-Bret
Simone Speziale
Spatially local energy density of gravitational waves
Journal of High Energy Physics
Classical Theories of Gravity
Space-Time Symmetries
title Spatially local energy density of gravitational waves
title_full Spatially local energy density of gravitational waves
title_fullStr Spatially local energy density of gravitational waves
title_full_unstemmed Spatially local energy density of gravitational waves
title_short Spatially local energy density of gravitational waves
title_sort spatially local energy density of gravitational waves
topic Classical Theories of Gravity
Space-Time Symmetries
url https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2025)048
work_keys_str_mv AT antoinerignonbret spatiallylocalenergydensityofgravitationalwaves
AT simonespeziale spatiallylocalenergydensityofgravitationalwaves