On Fri, 16 Nov 2007 03:57:09 -0800 (PST), Ian Parker
wrote:

Maxwell's equations stem from a scaler potential Quad^2? = p Where p
is a charge density. Quad^2 is the four dimensional analogue of the
"Del" operator. ? is a scalar quantity.

I find it infinitely better to call the D'Almbertian the "box
operator". I just like saying "box squared".


Gravitational waves on the other hand involve tensors and NOT scalars.
This is where the confusion takes place. Gravitational waves are
quadripolar and not diploar. They have 5 planes of polarization and
gravitational fileds can be along the direction of motion.. In
elementary particle physics we say that a graviton is a boson with
spin 2. The photon has a spin of 1.

*scratches head*

I thought gravitational waves only had two unique polarizations?


There are in fact GR codes which will give a finite element solution.
These tell us what happens when matter approached a spinning black
hole for example.


- Ian Parker