Response of massive bodies to gravitational waves

TL;DR

This paper examines how massive bodies respond to gravitational waves at a microscopic level, revealing surface and bulk excitation mechanisms and proposing a microscopic detector based on these effects.

Contribution

It introduces a microscopic perspective on gravitational wave interaction with massive bodies, contrasting with traditional oscillator models and suggesting a new detector concept.

Findings

Surface energy transfer dominates non-resonant tidal motion.

Bulk excitation of quadrupole modes is significantly smaller.

Results align with standard theory but offer a new viewpoint.

Abstract

The response of a massive body to gravitational waves is described on the microscopic level. The results shed a new light on the commonly used oscillator model. It is shown that apart from the non-resonant tidal motion the energy transfer from a gravitational wave to an electromagnetically coupled body is in general restricted to the surface, whereas gravitational coupling gives rise to bulk excitation of quadrupole modes, but several orders of magnitude smaller. These results do not contradict standard theory, rather present a different viewpoint. A microscopic detector making use of the effect is suggested.