Trautman’s Description of Gravitational Radiation Is Universal: A “Pedestrian” Approach to Radiation Phenomena

Abstract

A simple approach to the Hamiltonian theory of radiation phenomena is proposed. It is shown that the so-called “Trautman-Bondi-mass”, known to a rather narrow circle of specialists in general relativity, appears naturally in any special relativistic field theory. The structure of the “radiation data phase space” for the field and its isomorphism with the “Cauchy data phase space” are thoroughly analyzed.

Keywords

• gravitational waves
• Hamiltonian theory of radiation
• Trautman-Bondi energy