Description
This book provides an accessible, yet thorough, introduction to special and general relativity, crafted and class-tested over many years of teaching. Suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, this book provides clear descriptions of how to approach the mathematics and physics involved. It is also contains the latest exciting developments in the field, including dark energy, gravitational waves, and frame dragging.
The table of contents has been carefully developed in consultation with a large number of instructors teaching courses worldwide, to ensure its wide applicability to modules on relativity and gravitation.
Features:
- A clear, accessible writing style, presenting a sophisticated approach to the subject, that remains suitable for advanced undergraduate students and above
- Class-tested over many years
- To be accompanied by a partner volume on ‘Advanced Topics’ for students to further extend their learning
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Relativity: A Theory of Space, Time, and Gravity
Chapter 2: Basic Special Relativity
Chapter 3: Lorentz Transformation, I
Chapter 4: Geometry of Lorentz Invariance
Chapter 5: Tensors on Flat Spaces
Chapter 6: Lorentz Transformation, II
Chapter 7: Particle Dynamics
Chapter 8: Covariant Electrodynamics
Chapter 9: Energy-Momentum of Fields
Chapter 10: Relativistic Hydrodynamics
Chapter 11: Equivalence of Local Gravity and Acceleration
Chapter 12: Acceleration in Special Relativity
Chapter 13: Tensors on Manifolds
Chapter 14: Differential Geometry
Chapter 15: General Relativity
Chapter 16: The Schwarzschild Metric
Chapter 17: Physical Effects of Schwarzschild Spacetime
Chapter 18: Linearized Gravity
Chapter 19: Relativistic Cosmology
Appendix A: Invariance of the Wave Equation
Appendix B: The Doppler Effect
Appendix C: Topics in Linear Algebra
Appendix D: Topics in Classical Mechanics
Appendix E: Photon and Particle Orbits