Gravitational radiation with Λ>0

Abstract

We study gravitational radiation for a positive value of the cosmological constant Λ. We rely on two battle-tested procedures: (i) We start from the same null coordinate system used by Bondi and Sachs for Λ=0, but, introduce boundary conditions adapted to allow radiation when Λ>0; and (ii) We determine the asymptotic symmetries by studying, à la Regge-Teitelboim, the surface integrals generated in the action by these boundary conditions. A crucial difference with the Λ=0 case is that the wave field does not vanish at large distances, but is of the same order as de Sitter space. This novel property causes no difficulty; on the contrary, it makes quantities finite at every step, without any regularization. A direct consequence is that the asymptotic symmetry algebra consists only of time translations and space rotations. Thus, it is not only finite dimensional, but smaller than de Sitter algebra. We exhibit formulas for the energy and angular momentum and their fluxes. In the limit of Λ tending to zero, these formulas go over continuously into those of Bondi, but the symmetry jumps to that of Bondi, Metzner, and Sachs. The expressions are applied to exact solutions, with and without radiation present, and also to the linearized theory.