Interpreting a conformally flat pure radiation space-time

Abstract

A physical interpretation is presented of the general class of conformally flat pure radiation metrics that has recently been identified by Edgar and Ludwig. It is shown that, at least in the weak field limit, successive wave surfaces can be represented as null (half) hyperplanes rolled around a two-dimensional null cone. In the impulsive limit, the solution reduces to a pp-wave whose direction of propagation depends on retarded time. In the general case, there is a coordinate singularity which corresponds to an envelope of the wave surfaces. The global structure is discussed and a possible vacuum extension through the envelope is proposed.

9 pages, Plain TeX, 2 figures. To appear in Class. Quantum Grav. Reference added

References in corpus (3)

• All conformally flat pure radiation metrics
• Integration in the GHP formalism III: Finding all conformally flat radiation metrics as an example of an `optimal situation'
• Non-expanding impulsive gravitational waves

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• Geodesic motion in the Kundt spacetimes and the character of envelope singularity
• Chaotic motion in Kundt spacetimes
• Twisted Gravitational Waves in the Presence of a Cosmological Constant