Gravity, a Geometrical Course : Volume 1: Development of the Theory and Basic Physical Applications

Description

'Gravity, a Geometrical Course' presents general relativity (GR) in a systematic and exhaustive way, covering three aspects that are homogenized into a single texture: i) the mathematical, geometrical foundations, exposed in a self consistent contemporary formalism, ii) the main physical, astrophysical and cosmological applications, updated to the issues of contemporary research and observations, with glimpses on supergravity and superstring theory, iii) the historical development of scientific ideas underlying both the birth of general relativity and its subsequent evolution. The book, divid Read more... Acknowledgement.- Preface.- Special Relativity: setting the stage.- Manifolds and fibre bundles.- Connections and Metrics.- Motion in the Schwarzschild Field.- Einstein versus Yang Mills Field Equations.- Stellar Equilibrium.- Gravitational Waves and the Binary Pulsars.- Conclusion of volume 1.- Appendix A: Spinors and Gamma Matrix Algebra.- Appendix B: Mathematica Packages.- Index