On the propagation of electromagnetic radiation in the field of a plane gravitational wave

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electromagnetic waves propagate in a plane gravitational wave field, providing solutions beyond geometrical optics and exploring the potential for observing polarization perturbations, which are found to be extremely subtle.

Contribution

It offers a new approximation solution for electromagnetic propagation in gravitational waves and analyzes the feasibility of detecting polarization effects experimentally.

Findings

Solutions beyond geometrical optics in TT and FNC gauges

Polarization perturbations are extremely small

Experimental detection of these effects is highly challenging

Abstract

The propagation of free electromagnetic radiation in the field of a plane gravitational wave is investigated. A solution is found one order of approximation beyond the limit of geometrical optics in both transverse--traceless (TT) gauge and Fermi Normal Coordinate (FNC) system. The results are applied to the study of polarization perturbations. Two experimental schemes are investigated in order to verify the possibility to observe these perturbations, but it is found that the effects are exceedingly small.