Properties of Gravitational Waves
Generation Properties:
will only be visible on Earth from sources of strong gravitational fields which are changing rapidly
are only emitted by
non
-axially symmetric systems (need quadrupole or higher moment)
.
Propagation Properties:
travel at the speed of light.
amplitude decreases as 1/r.
are not attenuated by interactions with intervening matter.
Reception Properties:
carry energy and can produce transverse distortions of objects far away from the source.
have two polarization components,
h
+
=A
+
cos ω( t + z/c + t
+0
)
and
h
×
= A
×
cos ω( t + z/c + t
×0
)
.