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Effect of gravitational radiation upon electromagnetic waves in a dispersive medium

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Abstract

We show that linearized gravitational radiation produces fluctuations in intensity and position of a distant source if the ray travels in a dispersive medium. The effect, however, depends upon the nongeodesic character of the ray and does not occur in an electrostatic plasma. When the index of refraction n is greater than unity a Cerenkov type resonance produces scintillation proportional to D O 3/2 (D O being the distance of the source) and a ‘dancing’ proportional to D O 1/2 if, instead, n<1 the scintillation behaves like D O and the dancing does not diverge as D O → ∞. The calculation is performed in detail for a random and isotropic spectrum of gravitational waves W(ω). This effect allows one to set an upper limit to W(ω) at the frequency at which the fluctuations are observed, but for the rarified interstellar and intergalactic plasmas these limits are not very interesting.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto Fisica Teorica, Università Pavia, Via Bassi, 4, Pavia, Italy

    Bruno Bertotti & Roberto Catenacci

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  1. Bruno Bertotti
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  2. Roberto Catenacci
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Bertotti, B., Catenacci, R. Effect of gravitational radiation upon electromagnetic waves in a dispersive medium. Gen Relat Gravit 6, 329–343 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00761968

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00761968

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