The effect of sources on horizons that may develop when plane gravitational waves collide

Abstract

Colliding plane gravitational waves that lead to the development of a horizon and a subsequent time-like singularity are coupled with an electromagnetic field, a perfect fluid (whose energy density, ε, equals the pressure, p), and null dust (consisting of massless particles). The coupling of the gravitational waves with an electromagnetic field does not affect, in any essential way, the development of the horizon or the time-like singularity if the polarizations of the colliding gravitational waves are not parallel. If the polarizations are parallel, the space-like singularity which occurs in the vacuum is transformed into a horizon followed by a three-dimensional time-like singularity by the merest presence of the electromagnetic field. The coupling of the gravitational waves with an (ε=p)-fluid and null dust affect the development of horizons and singularities in radically different ways: the (ε=p)-fluid affects the development decisively in all cases but qualitatively in the same way, while null dust prevents the development of horizons and allows only the development of space-like singularities. The contrasting behaviours of an (ε=p)-fluid and of null dust in the framework of general relativity is compared with the behaviours one may expect, under similar circumstances, in the framework of special relativity.