Plane Gravitational Waves, the Kinetic Energy of Free Particles and the Memory Effect

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that short bursts of non-linear plane gravitational waves can alter the kinetic energy of free particles, either increasing or decreasing it, depending on initial conditions, indicating energy transfer from the wave.

Contribution

It reveals that plane gravitational waves can extract energy from particles, showing a new aspect of wave-particle interactions in general relativity.

Findings

Kinetic energy of particles can increase or decrease after wave passage.

Energy transfer depends on initial particle conditions.

Plane gravitational waves can extract energy from physical systems.

Abstract

It is shown that in the passage of a short burst of non-linear plane gravitational wave, the kinetic energy of free particles may either decrease or increase. The decreasing or increasing of the kinetic energy depends crucially on the initial conditions (position and velocity) of the free particle. Therefore a plane gravitational wave may extract energy from a physical system.