Gravitational memory effect

As the gravitational wave propagates perpendicular to the plane of inertial masses (in free fall), it is displaced by an amount proportional to the gravitational wave strain. After the gravitational wave has passed, the masses are permanently displaced, due to the gravitational memory effect.[1]

Gravitational memory effects, also known as gravitational-wave memory effects are predicted persistent changes in the relative position of pairs of masses in space due to the passing of a gravitational wave.[2] Detection of gravitational memory effects has been suggested as a way of validating general relativity.[3][4]

In 2014 Andrew Strominger and Alexander Zhiboedov showed that the formula related to the memory effect is the Fourier transform in time of Weinberg's soft graviton theorem.[5]

  1. ^ Mitman, Keefe (2024-10-22). "A review of gravitational memory and BMS frame fixing in numerical relativity". Classical and Quantum Gravity. 41 (22). arXiv:2405.08868. doi:10.1088/1361-6382/ad83c2.
  2. ^ Gibbons, G. W. (July 4, 2017). "The gravitational memory effect: what it is and why Stephen and I did not discover it" (PDF).
  3. ^ ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (February 4, 2020). "Astronomers search for gravitational-wave memory". phys.org. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  4. ^ Zosso, Jann; Heisenberg, Lavinia; Yunes, Nicolás (2023). "Gravitational wave memory beyond general relativity". Phys. Rev. D. 108 (2): 024010. arXiv:2303.02021. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.108.024010.
  5. ^ Strominger, Andrew; Zhiboedov, Alexander (2014). "Gravitational Memory, BMS Supertranslations and Soft Theorems". arXiv:1411.5745 [hep-th].