Abstract
The vibrating string is a source of gravitational waves which requires novel computational techniques, based on the explicit construction of a conserved and renormalized (in a classical sense) energy-momentum tensor. The renormalization is necessary to take into account the effect of external constraints, which affect the emission considerably. Vibrating media offer in general a testing ground for reconciling conflicts between General Relativity and other branches of physics; however, constraints are absent in sources like the Weber bar, for which the standard covariant formalism for elastic bodies can also be applied. Our solution method is based on the linearized Einstein equations, but relaxes other usual assumptions like far-field approximation, spherical or plane wave symmetry, TT gauge and source without internal interference. The string solution is then adapted to give the radiation field of a transversal Alfven wave in a rarefied plasma, where the tension is produced by an external static magnetic field.