Figure 1: In Einstein’s theory, gravitational waves have two independent polarizations. The effect
on proper separations of particles in a circular ring in the -plane due to a plus-polarized
wave traveling in the -direction is shown in (a) and due to a cross-polarized wave is shown in
(b). The ring continuously gets deformed into one of the ellipses and back during the first half of a
gravitational wave period and gets deformed into the other ellipse and back during the next half.
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