Aimed at students and researchers entering the field, this pedagogical introduction to numerical relativity will also interest scientists seeking a broad survey of its challenges and achievements. ...Assuming only a basic knowledge of classical general relativity, the book develops the mathematical formalism from first principles, and then highlights some of the pioneering simulations involving black holes and neutron stars, gravitational collapse and gravitational waves. The book contains 300 exercises to help readers master new material as it is presented. Numerous illustrations, many in color, assist in visualizing new geometric concepts and highlighting the results of computer simulations. Summary boxes encapsulate some of the most important results for quick reference. Applications covered include calculations of coalescing binary black holes and binary neutron stars, rotating stars, colliding star clusters, gravitational and magnetorotational collapse, critical phenomena, the generation of gravitational waves, and other topics of current physical and astrophysical significance.
This book presents basic General Relativity and provides a basis for understanding and using the fundamental theory. General Relativity is a beautiful geometric theory, simple in its mathematical ...formulation. It leads to numerous consequences with striking physical interpretations: gravitational waves, black holes, cosmological models, and so on. The first part of the book outlines the fundamentals of the subject. Chapters in this part look at Riemannian and Lorentzian geometry, Special and General Relativity, the Einstein equations, the Schwarzschild spacetime, black holes, and cosmology. The second part presents a number of more advanced topics such as general Einstein spacetimes, the Cauchy problem, relativistic fluids, and Relativistic Kinetic Theory.
Aimed at advanced undergraduate or graduate physics students, the book aims to give a working understanding of astronomy and gravitational waves, as well as introducing the reader to the key concepts ...in cosmology and classical field theory.
Covering all aspects of gravitation in a contemporary style, this advanced textbook is ideal for graduate students and researchers in all areas of theoretical physics. The 'Foundation' section ...develops the formalism in six chapters, and uses it in the next four chapters to discuss four key applications - spherical spacetimes, black holes, gravitational waves and cosmology. The six chapters in the 'Frontier' section describe cosmological perturbation theory, quantum fields in curved spacetime, and the Hamiltonian structure of general relativity, among several other advanced topics, some of which are covered in-depth for the first time in a textbook. The modular structure of the book allows different sections to be combined to suit a variety of courses. Over 200 exercises are included to test and develop the reader's understanding. There are also over 30 projects, which help readers make the transition from the book to their own original research.
This book presents a generalization of transforms from the frames co-moving with an accelerated particle for uniform circular or linear motion into an inertial frame of reference. The solutions ...presented here will be of great interest for real-time applications because earth-bound laboratories are inertial only in approximation. The motivation behind this is that real life applications include accelerating and rotating frames with arbitrary orientations more often than the idealized case of inertial frames. The book is divided into three main sections: the first deals with the theory of dynamics, while the second section deals with the application of theory to the derivation of the relativistic fictitious forces (Coriolis, centrifugal and Euler) occurring in a rotating frame and D'Alembert for a linearly accelerated frame. The third section deals with the Thomas Wigner effect. This is the first book on the subject and it will be of great interest for physics students, physics professors, and engineers.
Why did Einstein tirelessly study unified field theory for more than 30 years? In this book, the author argues that Einstein believed he could find a unified theory of all of nature's forces by ...repeating the methods he thought he had used when he formulated general relativity. The book discusses Einstein's route to the general theory of relativity, focusing on the philosophical lessons that he learnt. It then addresses his quest for a unified theory for electromagnetism and gravity, discussing in detail his efforts with Kaluza-Klein and, surprisingly, the theory of spinors. From these perspectives, Einstein's critical stance towards the quantum theory comes to stand in a new light. This book will be of interest to physicists, historians and philosophers of science.
The road to relativity Gutfreund, Hanoch; Renn, Jürgen; Stachel, John
2015., 20150602, 2015, 2015-06-02
eBook
This richly annotated facsimile edition of "The Foundation of General Relativity" introduces a new generation of readers to Albert Einstein's theory of gravitation. Written in 1915, this remarkable ...document is a watershed in the history of physics and an enduring testament to the elegance and precision of Einstein's thought. Presented here is a beautiful facsimile of Einstein's original handwritten manuscript, along with its English translation and an insightful page-by-page commentary that places the work in historical and scientific context. Hanoch Gutfreund and Jürgen Renn's concise introduction traces Einstein's intellectual odyssey from special to general relativity, and their essay "The Charm of a Manuscript" provides a delightful meditation on the varied afterlife of Einstein's text. Featuring a foreword by John Stachel, this handsome edition also includes a biographical glossary of the figures discussed in the book, a comprehensive bibliography, suggestions for further reading, and numerous photos and illustrations throughout.
