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Gravitational wave interactions with matter: Beyond quadrupolar perturbations

Ulrich K. Beckering Vinckers1,* and Nigel T. Bishop1,2,†

  • *Contact author: ulrich.beckeringvinckers@ru.ac.za
  • †Contact author: n.bishop@ru.ac.za
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 084080 – Published 28 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/32p5-845t

Abstract

Previous work has developed the theory of linearized gravitational wave (GW) interactions with matter using the Bondi-Sachs formalism, but with the perturbations restricted to be quadrupolar, i.e., the angular dependence is spherical harmonic with ℓ=2. Here, the theory is extended to the case of GWs on a Minkowski background with general ℓ. Formulas for the GW damping and heating effects are obtained for arbitrary ℓ≥2. It is found that the effects are, generally, enhanced, and this suggests that it is unlikely that higher ℓ-modes will be seen in GW observations of the postmerger signal of a binary neutron star merger, or of a core collapse supernova.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 084080– Published 28 October, 2026
  • Received 25 May 2026
  • Revised 20 August 2026
  • Accepted 4 September 2026
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