Nonminimally coupled gravitational and electromagnetic fields: pp-wave solutions

Abstract

We give the Lagrangian formulation of a generic nonminimally extended Einstein-Maxwell theory with an action that is linear in the curvature and quadratic in the electromagnetic field. We derive the coupled field equations by a first-order variational principle using the method of Lagrange multipliers. We look for solutions describing plane-fronted Einstein-Maxwell waves with parallel rays. We give a family of exact pp-wave solutions associated with a partially massless spin-2 photon and a partially massive spin-2 graviton.