Plane waves: To infinity and beyond!

Marolf, Donald; Ross, Simon F.

Abstract

We describe the asymptotic boundary of the general homogeneous plane wave spacetime, using a construction of the 'points at infinity' from the causal structure of the spacetime as introduced by Geroch, Kronheimer and Penrose. We show that this construction agrees with the conformal boundary obtained by Berenstein and Nastase for the maximally supersymmetric ten-dimensional plane wave. We see in detail how the possibility of going beyond (or around) infinity arises from the structure of light cones. We also discuss the extension of the construction to time-dependent plane wave solutions, focusing on the examples obtained from the Penrose limit of Dp-branes.

Citation

Marolf, D., & Ross, S. F. (2002). Plane waves: To infinity and beyond!. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 19, 6289-6302. https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/19/24/302

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Dec 21, 2002
• Publication Date: Dec 21, 2002
• Deposit Date: Feb 29, 2008
• Journal: Classical and Quantum Gravity
• Print ISSN: 0264-9381
• Electronic ISSN: 1361-6382
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• Pages: 6289-6302
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/19/24/302
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1628458
• Publisher URL: http://stacks.iop.org/0264-9381/19/6289