Photon frequency conversion induced by gravitational radiation

Abstract

We consider propagation of gravitational radiation in a magnetized multicomponent plasma. It is shown that large density perturbations can be generated, even for small deviations from flat space, provided the cyclotron frequency is much larger than the plasma frequency. Furthermore, the induced density gradients can generate frequency conversion of electromagnetic radiation, which may give rise to indirect observational effect of the gravitational waves.

13 pages, 1 figure, uses revtex, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D, Revised, appendix added