Properties and Patterns of Polarized Gravitational Waves

Abstract

We discuss the polarization of gravitational radiation within the standard framework of linearized general relativity. The recent experimental discovery of gravitational waves provides the impetus to revisit the implications of the spin-rotation-gravity coupling for polarized gravitational radiation; therefore, we consider the coupling of the helicity of gravitational waves to the rotation of an observer or the gravitomagnetic field of a rotating astronomical source. Observational possibilities regarding polarization-dependent effects in connection with future gravitational wave detectors are briefly explored.