Dautcourt's (1969) analysis of the temperature fluctuations induced in the microwave background by long-wavelength gravitational waves is extended by treating both negative and positive curvatures and by considering a perturbed matter- and radiation-filled Robertson-Walker universe in the extreme case where the pregalactic matter is fully ionized. A lower limit to the temperature fluctuations at the last-scattering surface is evaluated, and an upper limit to the present energy density in gravitational waves with wavelengths of 3 to 10 Mpc is obtained by comparison with the observed upper limit to the temperature fluctuations of 0.000715 over small angular scales (about 2 deg). The results obtained show that the 'missing mass' in clusters of galaxies cannot be in the form of megaparsec-length gravitational waves, that a single wave induces a quadrupole angular dependence in the temperature variation of the blackbody radiation, and that the energy density in a gravitational wave with a wavelength of about 10 Mpc is probably less than 0.005 of the critical energy density.

Long wavelength gravitational waves and the fine scale anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background

MOTTA, Santo
1978-01-01

Abstract

Dautcourt's (1969) analysis of the temperature fluctuations induced in the microwave background by long-wavelength gravitational waves is extended by treating both negative and positive curvatures and by considering a perturbed matter- and radiation-filled Robertson-Walker universe in the extreme case where the pregalactic matter is fully ionized. A lower limit to the temperature fluctuations at the last-scattering surface is evaluated, and an upper limit to the present energy density in gravitational waves with wavelengths of 3 to 10 Mpc is obtained by comparison with the observed upper limit to the temperature fluctuations of 0.000715 over small angular scales (about 2 deg). The results obtained show that the 'missing mass' in clusters of galaxies cannot be in the form of megaparsec-length gravitational waves, that a single wave induces a quadrupole angular dependence in the temperature variation of the blackbody radiation, and that the energy density in a gravitational wave with a wavelength of about 10 Mpc is probably less than 0.005 of the critical energy density.
1978
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES; BLACK BODY RADIATION; RELATIVITY,
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11769/250604
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