Generating a cosmological constant with gravitational waves

Claude Barrabès (1) , P. A. Hogan (2)

1 LMPT - Laboratoire de Mathématiques et Physique Théorique
2 UCD - University College Dublin [Dublin]

A technique is given to derive the well-known Bell-Szekeres solution of the Einstein-Maxwell vacuum field equations describing the space-time and the Maxwell field following the head-on collision of two homogeneous, plane, electromagnetic shock waves. The analogue of this technique is then utilized to construct the gravitational field following the head-on collision of two homogeneous plane gravitational shock waves. The latter collision, which is followed by a pair of impulsive gravitational waves and a pair of light-like shells traveling away from each other provides a mechanism for generating a cosmological constant.

Mots clés: gravitational waves; collision of gravitational shock waves; cosmological constant

Domaines: Relativité Générale et Cosmologie Quantique [gr-qc]

Claude Barrabès, P. A. Hogan. Generating a cosmological constant with gravitational waves. General Relativity and Gravitation, 2013, 46 (1), pp.1635. ⟨10.1007/s10714-013-1635-5⟩. ⟨hal-00958911⟩