Publikace ÚTF

Linear and rotational dragging effects of gravitational waves on local inertial frames are studied in purely vacuum spacetimes. First, the linear dragging caused by a simple cylindrical pulse is investigated. Surprisingly strong transverse effects of the pulse are exhibited. The angular momentum in cylindrically symmetric spacetimes is then defined and confronted with some results in the literature. In the main part, a general procedure is developed for studying weak gravitational waves with translational but not axial symmetry which can carry angular momentum. After a suitable averaging the rotation of local inertial frames due to such rotating waves can be calculated explicitly and illustrated graphically. This is done in detail in the accompanying paper. Finally, the rotational dragging is given for strong cylindrical waves interacting with a rotating cosmic string with a small angular momentum.