Vacuum<i>C</i>metric and the gravitational Stark effect

Abstract

We study the vacuum C metric and its physical interpretation in terms of the exterior spacetime of a uniformly accelerating spherically-symmetric gravitational source. Wave phenomena on the linearized C metric background are investigated. It is shown that the scalar perturbations of the linearized C metric correspond to the gravitational Stark effect. This effect is studied in connection with the Pioneer anomaly.