Spacetime, geometry and gravitation

Author(s)

    • Sharan, Pankaj

Bibliographic Information

Spacetime, geometry and gravitation

Pankaj Sharan

(Progress in mathematical physics / editors-in-chief, Anne Boutet de Monvel, Gerald Kaiser, v. 56)

Birkhäuser, c2009

  • : hard

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Note

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This is an introductory book on the general theory of relativity based partly on lectures given to students of M.Sc. Physics at my university. The book is divided into three parts. The ?rst part is a preliminary course on general relativity with minimum preparation. The second part builds the ma- ematical background and the third part deals with topics where mathematics developed in the second part is needed. The ?rst chapter gives a general background and introduction. This is f- lowed by an introduction to curvature through Gauss' Theorema Egregium. This theorem expresses the curvature of a two-dimensional surface in terms of intrinsic quantitiesrelatedtothein?nitesimaldistancefunctiononthesurface.Thestudent isintroducedtothemetrictensor,Christo?elsymbolsandRiemanncurvaturet- sor by elementary methods in the familiar and visualizable case of two dimensions. This early introduction to geometric quantities equips a student to learn simpler topics in general relativity like the Newtonian limit, red shift, the Schwarzschild solution, precession of the perihelion and bending of light in a gravitational ?eld. Part II (chapters 5 to 10) is an introduction to Riemannian geometry as - quired by general relativity. This is done from the beginning, starting with vectors and tensors. I believe that students of physics grasp physical concepts better if they are not shaky about the mathematics involved.

Table of Contents

Spacetime.- What is Curvature?.- General Relativity Basics.- Spherically Symmetric Gravitational Field.- Geometry.- Vectors and Tensors.- Inner Product.- Elementary Differential Geometry.- Connection and Curvature.- Riemannian Geometry.- Additional Topics in Geometry.- Gravitation.- The Einstein Equation.- General Features of Spacetime.- Weak Gravitational Fields.- Schwarzschild and Kerr Solutions.- Cosmology.- Special Topics.

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Details

  • NCID
    BA91492047
  • ISBN
    • 9783764399702
  • Country Code
    sz
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Original Language Code
    rus
  • Place of Publication
    Basel
  • Pages/Volumes
    xiv, 355 p.
  • Size
    24 cm
  • Parent Bibliography ID
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