Bondi–Metzner–Sachs group

In general relativity, the Bondi–Metzner–Sachs (BMS) group, or the Bondi–Van der Burg–Metzner–Sachs group, is an asymptotic symmetry group of asymptotically flat, Lorentzian spacetimes at null (i.e., light-like) infinity. It was originally formulated in 1962 by Hermann Bondi, M. G. Van der Burg, A. W. Metzner and Rainer K. Sachs in order to investigate the flow of energy at infinity due to propagating gravitational waves. Instead of the expected ordinary four spacetime translations of special relativity associated with the well-known conservation of momentum and energy, they found, much to their puzzling surprise, a novel infinite superset of direction-dependent time translations, which were named supertranslations. Half a century later, this work of Bondi, Van der Burg, Metzner, and Sachs is considered pioneering and seminal. In his autobiography, Bondi considered the 1962 work as his "best scientific work".^: 79 The group of supertranslations is key to understanding the connections to quantum fields and gravitational wave memories.