Gravitational Memory in Higher Dimensions

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a universal gravitational memory effect in even-dimensional spacetimes of four or more dimensions, linking it to soft graviton theorems and asymptotic symmetries, thus expanding understanding of gravitational phenomena in higher dimensions.

Contribution

It establishes the existence of a universal gravitational memory effect in higher even dimensions and connects it to infrared symmetries and soft theorems.

Findings

Memory effect scales as r^{3-d} at large radius

Effect is measurable by inertial detectors in even dimensions

Links gravitational memory to soft theorems and asymptotic symmetries

Abstract

It is shown that there is a universal gravitational memory effect measurable by inertial detectors in even spacetime dimensions $d\geq 4$. The effect falls off at large radius $r$ as $r^{3-d}$. Moreover this memory effect sits at one corner of an infrared triangle with the other two corners occupied by Weinberg's soft graviton theorem and infinite-dimensional asymptotic symmetries.