Available:*
Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010298296 | QC173.6 C4724 2010 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
On Order
Summary
Summary
Einstein's general theory of relativity is introduced in this advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate level textbook. Topics include special relativity, in the formalism of Minkowski's four-dimensional space-time, the principle of equivalence, Riemannian geometry and tensor analysis, Einstein field equation, as well as many modern cosmological subjects, from primordial inflation and cosmic microwave anisotropy to the dark energy that propels an accelerating universe.The author presents the subject with an emphasis on physical examples and simple applications without the full tensor apparatus. The reader first learns how to describe curved spacetime. At this mathematically more accessible level, the reader can already study the many interesting phenomena such as gravitational lensing, precession of Mercury's perihelion, black holes, and cosmology. The full tensor formulation is presented later, when the Einstein equation is solved for a few symmetric cases. Many modern topics in cosmology are discussed in this book: from inflation, cosmic microwave anisotropy to the "dark energy" that propels an accelerating universe.Mathematical accessibility, together with the various pedagogical devices (e.g., worked-out solutions of chapter-end problems), make it practical for interested readers to use the book to study general relativity and cosmology on their own.
Author Notes
Ta-Pei Cheng is currently Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Missouri - St. Louis. He took his Ph.D. at Rockefeller University in 1969, followed by post-doctoral study at Rockefeller University and at the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton). He has been on the faculty of University of Missouri - St. Louis from 1973 to the present day, and was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1982.
Table of Contents
| I Preliminaries |
| 1 Introduction and Overview |
| 2 Special relativity: the basics |
| II Relativity - Metric Description of Spacetime |
| 3 Special relativity: the geometric formulation |
| 4 The principle of equivalence |
| 5 Metric description of a curved space |
| 6 GR as a geometric theory of gravity - I |
| 7 Spherically symmetric spacetime - GR tests |
| 8 Black holes |
| III Cosmology |
| 9 The homogeneous and isotropic universe |
| 10 The expanding universe and thermal relics |
| 11 Inflation and the accelerating universe |
| IV Relativity - Full Tensor Formulation |
| 12 Tensors in special relativity |
| 13 Tensors in general relativity |
| 14 GR as a geometric theory of gravity - II |
| 15 Linearized theory and gravitational waves |
