Does gravitational radiation exist

An attempt is made to extend the Wheeler and Feynman absorber theory of electromagnetic radiation to the case of the gravitational field (described by the Einstein linear weak-field equations) on the assumption that the source is at the center of a sphere of matter having a density equal to the average density in the universe and a radius equal to the reciprocal of the Hubble constant. It is found that near the source the field of the matter is negligible compared to that of the source, so that one can conclude that the gravitational field generated by the source is time-symmetric (one-half advanced plus one-half retarded). One can conclude that a physical system does not lose energy as gravitational radiation, although a gravitational wave detector may record signals. It appears that there are no periodic running waves in nature, and hence no gravitons. These considerations hold also in the bimetric gravitation theory. (author)