Plane-fronted waves in metric-affine gravity

TL;DR

This paper investigates plane-fronted electromagnetic waves within metric-affine gravity theories, extending classical general relativity solutions to include nonmetricity and torsion effects alongside electromagnetic fields.

Contribution

It generalizes known type N gravitational wave solutions to metric-affine gravity, incorporating nonmetricity, torsion, and electromagnetic fields with a cosmological constant.

Findings

Derived explicit solutions for plane-fronted waves in MAG

Extended classical GR solutions to include nonmetricity and torsion

Analyzed the interplay between electromagnetic fields and geometric structures

Abstract

We study plane-fronted electrovacuum waves in metric-affine gravity theories (MAG) with cosmological constant. Their field strengths are, on the gravitational side, curvature $R_{\alpha}{}^{\beta}$, nonmetricity $Q_{\alpha\beta}$, torsion $T^{\alpha}$ and, on the matter side, the electromagnetic field strength $F$. Our starting point is the work by Ozsv\'ath, Robinson, and R\'ozga on type N gravitational fields in general relativity as coupled to null electromagnetic fields.