Plane-fronted waves in metric-affine gravity

Abstract

We study plane-fronted electrovacuum waves in metric-affine gravity theories with a cosmological constant. Their field strengths are, on the gravitational side, curvature ${R}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{\ensuremath{\beta}},$ nonmetricity ${Q}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\beta}},$ torsion ${T}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ and, on the matter side, the electromagnetic field strength F. Our starting point is the work by Ozsv\'ath, Robinson, and R\'ozga on type N gravitational fields in general relativity as coupled to null electromagnetic fields.