Gravitational waves and the radiative field

Abstract This chapter turns to the gravitational radiation produced by a system of massive objects. The discussion is confined to the linear approximation of general relativity, which is compared with the Maxwell theory of electromagnetism. In the first part of the chapter, the properties of gravitational waves, which are the general solution of the linearized vacuum Einstein equations, are studied. Next, it relates these waves to the energy–momentum tensor of the sources creating them. The chapter then turns to the ‘first quadrupole formula’, giving the gravitational radiation field of these sources when their motion is due to forces other than the gravitational force.