Massless spin-2 field solutions with spherical symmetry: Eliminating gauge degrees of freedom

Abstract

We examine the basic matrix equation for a spin-2 field in spherical coordinates and a tetrad of Minkowski spacetime. The technique of Wigner D-functions is used to separate the variables. The operators of energy, the square and the third projection of the total angular momentum, and the space reflection operators are then diagonalized on the solutions. The separation of the variables is done, the problem reduces to 11 radial second-order differential equations for 11 variables related to the scalar and symmetric tensors. We then consider the case of a massless field. The four gauge solutions for the massless spin-2 field have been found in explicit form. These gauge solutions do not contribute to physically observable quantities such as the energy–momentum tensor. They are derived according to Pauli–Fierz theory from four independent spherical solutions for a spin-1 massless particle. We have also constructed two types of solutions, related to opposite parities, which are not the gauge solutions. These solutions describe physically observable states with spherical symmetry for the spin-2 massless field.