Gravitational waves in general relativity, VII. Waves from axi-symmetric isolated system

Abstract This paper is divided into four parts. In part A, some general considerations about gravitational radiation are followed by a treatment of the scalar wave equation in the manner later to be applied to Einstein’s field equations. In part B, a co-ordinate system is specified which is suitable for investigation of outgoing gravitational waves from an isolated axi-symmetric reflexion-symmetric system . The metric is expanded in negative powers of a suitably defined radial co-ordinate r, and the vacuum field equations are investigated in detail. It is shown that the flow of information to infinity is controlled by a single function of two variables called the news function. Together with initial conditions specified on a light cone, this function fully defines the behaviour of the system . No constraints of any kind are encountered. In part C, the transformations leaving the metric in the chosen form are determined. An investigation of the corresponding transformations in Minkowski space suggests that no generality is lost by assuming that the transformations, like the metric, may be expanded in negative powers of r. In part D, the mass of the system is defined in a way which in static metrics agrees with the usual definition. The principal result of the paper is then deduced, namely, that the mass of a system is constant if and only if there is no news; if there is news, the mass decreases monotonically so long as it continues. The linear approximation is next discussed, chiefly for its heuristic value, and employed in the analysis of a receiver for gravitational waves. Sandwich waves are constructed, and certain non-radiative but non-static solutions are discussed. This part concludes with a tentative classification of time-dependent solutions of the types considered.