Observation of gravitational waves by light polarization

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how gravitational waves affect electromagnetic waves' polarization and phase, proposing a covariant approach to assess their detectability through polarization measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a coordinate-free, covariant method to evaluate gravitational wave effects on light polarization and phase, enhancing detection strategies.

Findings

Gravitational waves induce measurable changes in light polarization properties.

The analysis provides a framework for detecting gravitational waves via electromagnetic signals.

A discussion on antenna patterns and Stokes parameters for gravitational wave detection.

Abstract

We provide analysis to determine the effects of gravitational waves on electromagnetic waves, using perturbation theory in general relativity. Our analysis is performed in a completely covariant manner without invoking any coordinates. For a given observer, in the geometrical-optics approximation, we work out the perturbations of the phase, amplitude, frequency and polarization properties--axes of ellipse and ellipticity of light, due to gravitational waves. With regard to the observation of gravitational waves, we discuss the measurement of Stokes parameters, through which the antenna patterns are presented to show the detectability of the gravitational wave signals.