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Updated: Feb 2, 2026

Optical Trapping of Nanoparticles
Published on: January 15, 2013
Trapping and Guiding Bodies by Gravitational Waves Endowed with Angular Momentum
Iwo Bialynicki-Birula1, Szymon Charzyński2
1Center for Theoretical Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences Aleja Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw, Poland.
Abstract:
Trapping of bodies by waves is extended from electromagnetism to gravity. It is shown that gravitational waves endowed with angular momentum may accumulate near its axis all kinds of cosmic debris. The trapping mechanism in both cases can be traced to the Coriolis force associated with the local rotation of the space metric. The same mechanism causes the Trojan asteroids to librate around the Sun-Jupiter stable Lagrange points L_{4} and L_{5}. Trapping of bodies in the vicinity of the wave center could also be related to the formation of galactic jets.
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