ENGLISH

Ray Optics, Fermat's Principle, and Applications to General Relativity

By Volker Perlick

Book information

Publisher
Springer
Year
2000
ISBN
0387921672
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
16 MB (16417572 bytes)
Edition
1
Pages
219\219
Time added
2010-02-18 13:16:04

Description

This book is about the mathematical theory of light propagation in media on general-relativistic spacetimes. The first part discusses the transition from Maxwell's equations to ray optics. The second part establishes a general mathematical framework for treating ray optics as a theory in its own right, making extensive use of the Hamiltonian formalism. This part also includes a detailed discussion of variational principles (i.e., various versions of Fermat's principle) for light rays in general-relativistic media. Some applications, e.g. to gravitational lensing, are worked out. The reader is assumed to have some basic knowledge of general relativity and some familiarity with differential geometry. Some of the results are published here for the first time, e.g. a general-relativistic version of Fermat's principle for light rays in a medium that has to satisfy some regularity condition only.

Similar books

Session C11: Ancient Cultural Landscapes in South Europe – their Ecological Setting and Evolution, Session C22: Gardeners from South America, Session S04: Agro-Pastoralism and Early Metallurgy Sessions, Session WS29: The Idea of Enclosure in Recent Iberian Prehistory, Session C88: Rhytmes et causalites des dynamiques de l'anthropisation en Europe entre 6500 ET 500 BC: Hypotheses socio-culturelles et/ou climatiques: Proceedings of the XV UISPP World Congress (Lisbon 4-9 September 2006) / Actes du XV Congrès Mondial (Lisbonne 4-9 Septembre 2006) Vol.36

Session C11: Ancient Cultural Landscapes in South Europe – their Ecological Setting and Evolution, Session C22: Gardeners from South America, Session S04: Agro-Pastoralism and Early Metallurgy Sessions, Session WS29: The Idea of Enclosure in Recent Iberian Prehistory, Session C88: Rhytmes et causalites des dynamiques de l'anthropisation en Europe entre 6500 ET 500 BC: Hypotheses socio-culturelles et/ou climatiques: Proceedings of the XV UISPP World Congress (Lisbon 4-9 September 2006) / Actes du XV Congrès Mondial (Lisbonne 4-9 Septembre 2006) Vol.36

2010 · PDF