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?
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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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