General Relativity An Introduction for Physicists [Hardcover]

An advanced textbook providing a clear mathematical introduction to general relativity and its physical applications.This is a clear mathematical introduction to Einstein's theory of general relativity. It presents a wide range of applications of the theory, concentrating on its physical consequences. After reviewing the basic concepts, the authors present an intuitive discussion of the mathematical background, which is then used to develop a physical understanding of a wide range of topics in relativistic gravitation. Written for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, this approachable textbook contains over 300 exercises to illuminate and extend the discussion in the text.This is a clear mathematical introduction to Einstein's theory of general relativity. It presents a wide range of applications of the theory, concentrating on its physical consequences. After reviewing the basic concepts, the authors present an intuitive discussion of the mathematical background, which is then used to develop a physical understanding of a wide range of topics in relativistic gravitation. Written for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, this approachable textbook contains over 300 exercises to illuminate and extend the discussion in the text.After reviewing the basic concept of general relativity, this introduction discusses its mathematical background, including the necessary tools of tensor calculus and differential geometry. These tools are used to develop the topic of special relativity and to discuss electromagnetism in Minkowski spacetime. Gravitation as spacetime curvature is introduced and the field equations of general relativity derived. After applying the theory to a wide range of physical situations, the book concludes with a brief discussion of classical field theory and the derivation of general relativity from a variational principle.1. The spacetime of special relativity; 2. Manifolds and coordinates; 3. Vector calculus on manifolds; 4. Tensor calculCÔ