Gravitational Radiation and Very Long Baseline Interferometry

Gravitational waves affect the observed direction of light from distant sources. At telescopes, this change in direction appears as periodic variations in the apparent positions of these sources on the sky; that is, as proper motion. A wave of a given phase, traveling in a given direction, produces a characteristic pattern of proper motions over the sky. Comparison of observed proper motions with this pattern serves to test for the presence of gravitational waves. A stochastic background of waves induces apparent proper motions with specific statistical properties, and so, may also be sought. In this paper we consider the effects of a cosmological background of gravitational radiation on astrometric observations. We derive an equation for the time delay measured by two antennae observing the same source in an Einstein-de Sitter spacetime containing gravitational radiation. We also show how to obtain similar expressions for curved Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetimes.