Memory and supertranslations on plane wave spacetimes: an on-shell perspective

A bstract We revisit the computation of the classical gravitational waveform for a particle moving in a plane wave background using on-shell amplitudes. We emphasize the relationship between gravitational memory and the boundary conditions of external scattering states, which were neglected in previous works. We then provide the first tree-level expression for the waveform that captures all memory effects. The waveform is presented in terms of Synge’s world function, with explicit tail terms, and a smooth weak memory limit. We also discuss the choice of BMS frame for the waveform on a plane wave background. In flat space, this corresponds to a choice of soft dressing of the initial state. We show that on a plane wave background, this dressing becomes a supertranslation of the waveform, in addition to a phase shift in the waveshape of the background.