The essence of gravitational waves and energy

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the essential element of gravity as spacetime curvature and a gravitational wave as the propagation of spacetime curvature. Electromagnetic waves are necessarily localized carriers of spacetime curvature and hence are also gravitational waves. Thus, electromagnetic waves have dual character and detection of gravitational waves is the routine of our everyday experience. Regarding the transferring energy from a gravitational wave to an apparatus, both Rosen and Bondi waves lack the essential characteristic of inducing a gradient of acceleration between detector elements. We discuss our simple invariant energy expression for general relativity and its extension. If the cosmological term is present in the field equations, its universal presence characteristic implies that gravitational waves would necessarily have an energy aspect in their propagation in every case.