Advanced Mechanics and General Relativity


Book Description

Aimed at advanced undergraduates with background knowledge of classical mechanics and electricity and magnetism, this textbook presents both the particle dynamics relevant to general relativity, and the field dynamics necessary to understand the theory. Focusing on action extremization, the book develops the structure and predictions of general relativity by analogy with familiar physical systems. Topics ranging from classical field theory to minimal surfaces and relativistic strings are covered in a homogeneous manner. Nearly 150 exercises and numerous examples throughout the textbook enable students to test their understanding of the material covered. A tensor manipulation package to help students overcome the computational challenge associated with general relativity is available on a site hosted by the author. A link to this and to a solutions manual can be found at www.cambridge.org/9780521762458.




Advanced Mechanics and General Relativity


Book Description

Aimed at advanced undergraduates with background knowledge of classical mechanics and electricity and magnetism, this textbook presents both the particle dynamics relevant to general relativity, and the field dynamics necessary to understand the theory. Focusing on action extremization, the book develops the structure and predictions of general relativity by analogy with familiar physical systems. Topics ranging from classical field theory to minimal surfaces and relativistic strings are covered in a homogeneous manner. Nearly 150 exercises and numerous examples throughout the textbook enable students to test their understanding of the material covered. A tensor manipulation package to help students overcome the computational challenge associated with general relativity is available on a site hosted by the author. A link to this and to a solutions manual can be found at www.cambridge.org/9780521762458.




Advanced Mechanics


Book Description

"Aimed at advanced undergraduates with background knowledge of classical mechanics and electricity and magnetism, this textbook presents both the particle dynamics relevant to general relativity, and the field dynamics necessary to understand the theory. Focusing on action extremization, the book develops the structure and predictions of general relativity by analogy with familiar physical systems. Topics ranging from classical field theory to minimal surfaces and relativistic strings are covered in a homogenous manner. Nearly 150 exercises and numerous examples throughout the textbook enable students to test their understanding of the material covered. A tensor manipulation package to help students overcome the computational challenge associated with general relativity is available on a site hosted by the author"--




Advanced Mechanics


Book Description

"Aimed at advanced undergraduates with background knowledge of classical mechanics and electricity and magnetism, this textbook presents both the particle dynamics relevant to general relativity, and the field dynamics necessary to understand the theory. Focusing on action extremization, the book develops the structure and predictions of general relativity by analogy with familiar physical systems. Topics ranging from classical field theory to minimal surfaces and relativistic strings are covered in a homogenous manner. Nearly 150 exercises and numerous examples throughout the textbook enable students to test their understanding of the material covered. A tensor manipulation package to help students overcome the computational challenge associated with general relativity is available on a site hosted by the author"--




Advanced General Relativity


Book Description

A self-contained introduction to advanced general relativity.




Relativistic Quantum Physics


Book Description

Quantum physics and special relativity theory were two of the greatest breakthroughs in physics during the twentieth century and contributed to paradigm shifts in physics. This book combines these two discoveries to provide a complete description of the fundamentals of relativistic quantum physics, guiding the reader effortlessly from relativistic quantum mechanics to basic quantum field theory. The book gives a thorough and detailed treatment of the subject, beginning with the classification of particles, the Klein–Gordon equation and the Dirac equation. It then moves on to the canonical quantization procedure of the Klein–Gordon, Dirac and electromagnetic fields. Classical Yang–Mills theory, the LSZ formalism, perturbation theory, elementary processes in QED are introduced, and regularization, renormalization and radiative corrections are explored. With exercises scattered through the text and problems at the end of most chapters, the book is ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in theoretical physics.




General Relativity


Book Description

"Wald's book is clearly the first textbook on general relativity with a totally modern point of view; and it succeeds very well where others are only partially successful. The book includes full discussions of many problems of current interest which are not treated in any extant book, and all these matters are considered with perception and understanding."—S. Chandrasekhar "A tour de force: lucid, straightforward, mathematically rigorous, exacting in the analysis of the theory in its physical aspect."—L. P. Hughston, Times Higher Education Supplement "Truly excellent. . . . A sophisticated text of manageable size that will probably be read by every student of relativity, astrophysics, and field theory for years to come."—James W. York, Physics Today




FUNDAMENTALS OF SPECIAL AND GENERAL RELATIVITY, Revised Edition


Book Description

Relativity, apart from quantum mechanics, is the greatest wonder in science, unfolded single-handedly in the 20th century by Albert Einstein. The scientist developed general relativity as a logical sequel to special relativity. This comprehensive book presents explication of the conceptual evolution and mathematical derivations of the theories of special and general relativity. The book follows an Einsteinian approach while explaining the concepts and the theories of relativity. Divided into 14 chapters, the revised edition of the book covers elementary concepts of Special relativity, as well as the advanced studies on General relativity. The recent theories like Kerr geometry, Sagnac effect, Vaidya geometry, Raychaudhuri equation and Gravitation physics vis-à-vis Quantum physics are presented in easy-to-understand language and simple style. In addition to it, the book gives an in-depth analysis on the applications of advanced theories like Vaidya-Krori-Barua solution from author’s own research works. Apart from that, the book also discusses some of the isotropic and anisotropic cosmological models, in detail. The salient topics discussed in the revised edition of the book are extrinsic curvature, detection of gravitational waves, early universe, evolution of a dead star into a white dwarf or a neutron star or a black hole, dark matter and dark energy. This book is intended for the undergraduate and postgraduate students of Physics and Mathematics. KEY FEATURES • Step-by-step derivation of equations • Easy demagogic approach • Review questions to widen the analytical understanding of the students




A Relativist's Toolkit


Book Description

This 2004 textbook fills a gap in the literature on general relativity by providing the advanced student with practical tools for the computation of many physically interesting quantities. The context is provided by the mathematical theory of black holes, one of the most elegant, successful, and relevant applications of general relativity. Among the topics discussed are congruencies of timelike and null geodesics, the embedding of spacelike, timelike and null hypersurfaces in spacetime, and the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of general relativity. Although the book is self-contained, it is not meant to serve as an introduction to general relativity. Instead, it is meant to help the reader acquire advanced skills and become a competent researcher in relativity and gravitational physics. The primary readership consists of graduate students in gravitational physics. It will also be a useful reference for more seasoned researchers working in this field.




Mathematical Problems of General Relativity I


Book Description

General relativity is a theory proposed by Einstein in 1915 as a unified theory of space, time and gravitation. It is based on and extends Newton's theory of gravitation as well as Newton's equations of motion. It is thus fundamentally rooted in classical mechanics. The theory can be seen as a development of Riemannian geometry, itself an extension of Gauss' intrinsic theory of curved surfaces in Euclidean space. The domain of application of the theory is astronomical systems. One of the mathematical methods analyzed and exploited in the present volume is an extension of Noether's fundamental principle connecting symmetries to conserved quantities. This is involved at a most elementary level in the very definition of the notion of hyperbolicity for an Euler-Lagrange system of partial differential equations. Another method, the study and systematic use of foliations by characteristic (null) hypersurfaces, is in the spirit of Roger Penrose's approach in his incompleteness theorem. The methods have applications beyond general relativity to problems in fluid mechanics and, more generally, to the mechanics and electrodynamics of continuous media. The book is intended for advanced students and researchers seeking an introduction to the methods and applications of general relativity.