Asymptotically Plane Wave Spacetimes and their Actions
arXiv:0801.4412 · doi:10.1088/1126-6708/2008/04/084
Abstract
We propose a definition of asymptotically plane wave spacetimes in vacuum gravity in terms of the asymptotic falloff of the metric, and discuss the relation to previously constructed exact solutions. We construct a well-behaved action principle for such spacetimes, using the formalism developed by Mann and Marolf. We show that this action is finite on-shell and that the variational principle is well-defined for solutions of vacuum gravity satisfying our asymptotically plane wave falloff conditions.
18 pages, v2: references added, v3: small changes to concluding discussion, final version to appear in journal