Detection of Computer Generated Gravitational Waves in Numerical Cosmologies

TL;DR

This paper investigates the behavior of test particles in numerical solutions of Einstein's equations for cosmological models, revealing how initial configurations evolve into distorted ellipses and complex motions, which could help detect gravitational waves.

Contribution

It introduces a method to analyze complex cosmological solutions by tracking test particles, providing insights into gravitational wave signatures in numerical cosmologies.

Findings

Test particles form distorted ellipses over time

Evolution depends on initial particle positions

Snapshots illustrate dynamic behavior of test particles

Abstract

We propose to study the behavior of complicated numerical solutions to Einstein's equations for generic cosmologies by following the geodesic motion of a swarm of test particles. As an example, we consider a cylinder of test particles initially at rest in the plane symmetric Gowdy universe on $T^3 \times R$. For a circle of test particles in the symmetry plane, the geodesic equations predict evolution of the circle into distortions and rotations of an ellipse as well as motion perpendicular to the plane. The evolutionary sequence of ellipses depends on the initial position of the circle of particles. We display snapshots of the evolution of the cylinder.