General relativity : an introduction to black holes, gravitational waves, and cosmology / Michael J.W. Hall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hall, Michael J. W., author.

Contributor:

Morgan & Claypool Publishers, publisher.

Institute of Physics (Great Britain), publisher.

Series:

IOP (Series). Release 4.

IOP concise physics

[IOP release 4]

IOP concise physics, 2053-2571

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

General relativity (Physics).

Black holes (Astronomy).

Gravitational waves.

Cosmology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (various pagings) : illustrations (some color).

Distribution:

Bristol [England] : IOP Publishing, [2018]

Place of Publication:

San Rafael [California] : Morgan & Claypool Publishers, [2018]

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader, EPUB reader, or Kindle reader.

text file

Biography/History:

Michael Hall received his PhD from the Australian National University in 1989. Since then he has worked in various areas of the foundations of physics, from both inside and outside academia (including a year as a Humboldt Fellow in Ulm, and sixteen as a patent examiner). For the last six years he has been a research fellow in the Centre for Quantum Dynamics at Griffith University in Brisbane and has recently taken up a visiting fellowship at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Summary:

General Relativity: An Introduction to Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Cosmology provides readers with a solid understanding of the underlying physical concepts of general relativity. It also shows how they may derive important applications of the theory and is a solid grounding for those wishing to pursue further study. This thorough primer is based on class-tested undergraduate lectures from Griffith University, Brisbane. It develops the basic elements of general relativity with applications to the gravitational deflection of light, GPS, black holes, gravitational waves, and cosmology.

Contents:

1. Concepts in special relativity

1.1. Galilean relativity

1.2. Inertial frames

1.3. Special relativity

1.4. Velocity addition, length contraction, and time dilation

1.5. Questions

2. Tensors in relativity

2.1. Motivation

2.2. General tensors and their basic properties

2.3. Lorentz tensors

2.4. Example : 4-momentum and force

2.5. Example : Doppler effect

2.6. Questions

3. The equivalence principle and local inertial frames

3.1. Inertial versus gravitational mass

3.2. Einstein's equivalence principle

3.3. Local inertial frames

3.4. Questions

4. The motion of freely falling particles in general relativity

4.1. Local inertial frames and the geodesic equation

4.2. The metric tensor

4.3. Gravity as geometry

4.4. The Newtonian limit

4.5. Questions

5. The Schwarzschild metric and black holes

5.1. Spherical symmetry and the Schwarzschild metric

5.2. Geodesics in spherically symmetric spacetimes

5.3. Particle geodesics in a Schwarzschild spacetime

5.4. Deflection of light by the Sun

5.5. Falling into a black hole

5.6. Questions

6. Tensors and geometry

6.1. Covariant derivatives

6.2. Basic properties of covariant derivatives

6.3. Riemann and Ricci tensors

6.4. Symmetries and Bianchi identities

6.5. Questions

7. Einstein's field equations

7.1. Overview

7.2. Energy-momentum tensor and conservation laws

7.3. The field equations for general relativity

7.4. The cosmological constant

7.5. Questions

8. Solving the field equations : vacuum solutions

8.1. The vacuum field equations

8.2. The Schwarzschild-de Sitter solution

8.3. Gravitational waves

8.4. Questions

9. Solving the field equations : cosmological solutions

9.1. The cosmological principle

9.2. The Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric

9.3. Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes

9.4. Questions

Appendices. A. Derivation of Lorentz transformations

B. Derivation of Einstein's field equations

C. Remarks on selected questions.

Notes:

"Version: 20180301"--Title page verso.

"A Morgan & Claypool publication as part of IOP Concise Physics"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references.

Title from PDF title page (viewed on April 5, 2018).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781681748856

9781681748832

OCLC:

1030775297

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.