Deviation and precession effects in the field of a weak gravitational wave

Deviation and precession effects of a bunch of spinning particles in the field of a weak gravitational plane wave are studied according to the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon (MPD) model. Before the passage of the wave the particles are at rest with an associated spin vector aligned along a given direction with constant magnitude. The interaction with the gravitational wave causes the particles to keep moving on the 2-plane orthogonal to the direction of propagation of the wave, with the transverse spin vector undergoing oscillations around the initial orientation. The transport equations for both the deviation vector and spin vector between two neighboring world lines of such a congruence are then solved by a suitable extension of the MPD model off the spinning particle's world line. In order to obtain measurable physical quantities a "laboratory" is set up by constructing a Fermi coordinate system attached to a reference world line. The exact transformation between TT coordinates and Fermi coordinates is derived too.