Localizing the Angular Momentum of Linear Gravity

TL;DR

This paper extends the linear gravity framework by localizing angular momentum through a gravitational spin tensor, which is uniquely determined and exhibits desirable physical properties, enhancing understanding of gravitational energy and spin.

Contribution

It introduces a gravitational spin tensor for linearized gravity, uniquely defined by physical conditions, and analyzes angular momentum exchange with matter in a gauge-invariant manner.

Findings

The gravitational spin tensor is uniquely determined and traceless for transverse-traceless fields.

Gravitational waves carry localized intrinsic spin aligned with propagation.

Static matter distributions do not carry gravitational spin.

Abstract

In a previous article [Phys. Rev. D 82 104040 (2010)], we derived an energy-momentum tensor for linear gravity that exhibited positive energy density and causal energy flux. Here we extend this framework by localizing the angular momentum of the linearized gravitational field, deriving a gravitational spin tensor which possesses similarly desirable properties. By examining the local exchange of angular momentum (between matter and gravity) we find that gravitational intrinsic spin is localized, separately from orbital angular momentum, in terms of a gravitational spin tensor. This spin tensor is then uniquely determined by requiring that it obey two simple physically motivated algebraic conditions. Firstly, the spin of an arbitrary (harmonic-gauge) gravitational plane wave is required to flow in the direction of propagation of the wave. Secondly, the spin tensor of any transverse-traceless gravitational field is required to be traceless. (The second condition ensures that local field redefinitions suffice to cast our gravitational energy-momentum tensor and spin tensor as sources of gravity in a quadratic approximation to general relativity.) Additionally, the following properties arise in the spin tensor spontaneously: all transverse-traceless fields have purely spatial spin, and any field generated by a static distribution of matter will carry no spin at all. Following the structure of our previous paper, we then examine the (spatial) angular momentum exchanged between the gravitational field and an infinitesimal detector, and develop a microaveraging procedure that renders the process gauge-invariant. The exchange of nonspatial angular momentum (i.e., moment of energy) is also analyzed, leading us to conclude that a gravitational wave can displace the center of mass of the detector; this conclusion is also confirmed by a first principles treatment of the system. Finally, we discuss...