Gravitational Waves, Volume 2: Astrophysics and Cosmology

Description

The two-volume book Gravitational Waves provides a comprehensive and detailed account of the physics of gravitational waves. While Volume 1 is devoted to the theory and experiments, Volume 2 discusses what can be learned from gravitational waves in astrophysics and in cosmology, by systematizing a large body of theoretical developments that have taken place over the last decades. The second volume also includes a detailed discussion of the first direct detections of gravitational waves. In the author's typical style, the theoretical results are generally derived afresh, clarifying or streamlining the existing derivations whenever possible, and providing a coherent and consistent picture of the field. The first volume of Gravitational Waves , which appeared in 2007, has established itself as the standard reference in the field. The scientific community has eagerly awaited this second volume. The recent direct detection of gravitational waves makes the topics in this book particularly timely. volume 2. Astrophysics and cosmology. III: Astrophysical Sources of GWs 10. Stellar collapse 11. Neutron stars 12. Black-hole perturbation theory 13. Properties of dynamical space-times 14. GWs from coalescing compact binaries. Theory IV: Cosmology and Gravitational Waves 17. Basics of FRW cosmology 18. Helicity decomposition of the metric perturbations 19. Evolution of cosmological perturbations 20. The imprint of GWs on the CMB 21. Inflation and primordial perturbations 22. Stochastic backgrounds of cosmological origin 23. Stochastic backgrounds and pulsar timing arrays