Suppression of gravitational radiation

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a large static mass can back-scatter gravitational waves, creating a tail that can potentially suppress the primary outgoing gravitational radiation.

Contribution

It provides a calculation of the energy in the wave tail caused by back-scattering off a static mass and shows conditions for complete suppression of outgoing gravitational waves.

Findings

Wave tail carries significant energy back to the source.

Large static mass can fully suppress outgoing gravitational radiation.

Numerical example demonstrates the suppression effect.

Abstract

We consider a burst of quadrupole gravitational radiation in the presence of a large static mass $M$ situated at its source. Some of the radiation is back-scattered off the static field of the large mass, forming a wave tail. After the burst, the tail is a pure incoming wave, carrying energy back towards the source. We calculate this energy, and, in a numerical example, compare it with the outgoing wave energy. If $M$ is sufficiently large the incoming energy can equal the outgoing energy, indicating that the primary outgoing wave is completely suppressed.