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A gravitational wave contains energy. That means it creates its own gravity field. But after the wave has passed, spacetime will be again as it was before. How is the energy of the wave given to the matter in the spacetime it passes through? Can matter aquire a different state than it had before the wave passed,? Can an atom be torn apart? Can the distance between the electrons and nucleus temporary increase, or is there a tidal effect, making the electron and nucleus move away from each other (or the electron cloud and the nucleus be stretched wrt each other)? What happens? Will the atom be back in its initial state, or will it get excited and emit a photon after the wave? If so, how does this change the wave, which contains less energy then? Or can this only happen near an horizon of a black hole, or in an expanding universe. What does it even mean that the GW has energy?

MatterGauge
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I would think the quadrupole field from the gravitational wave could drive a quadrupole atomic transition.

Jagerber48
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  • Will the atom emit a photon after wave passage? – MatterGauge Dec 05 '21 at 00:31
  • Once that atom goes into an excited electronic state I think it would be mostly likely for it to undergo radiative decay. So yes, the process would be gravitational wave excites atom, then atom decays via photon emission.

    My response is highly theoretical. In practical terms the coupling between a gravitation wave and atomic transitions would be super-small for any known gravitational waves that it would be highly unlikely to happen in any physical situation we know about today. But, that said, there is a physical channel for the transition to occur which is what I'm pointing out.

     – Jagerber48 Dec 05 '21 at 00:34
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You should read about Feynman's simple sticky bead argument.

mike stone
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  • Why there are two beads needed? Won't one do? – MatterGauge Dec 05 '21 at 00:18
  • I guess that with tidal forces you need two separated objects to see the difference in the forces. You could use the stick as the second, but the stick experiences a force that varies along its length. Two beads make the point much clearer. – mike stone Dec 05 '21 at 12:54