A Relativist's Toolkit The Mathematics of Black-Hole Mechanics [Hardcover]

This 2004 textbook provides practical tools for solving every day problems in general relativity, focusing on black holes.This textbook fills a gap in the existing literature on general relativity by providing the advanced student with practical tools for the computation of many physically interesting quantities. The context is provided by the mathematical theory of black holes, one of the most elegant, successful and relevant applications of general relativity. Topics discussed include congruences of timelike and null geodesics, the embedding of spacelike, timelike and null hypersurfaces in spacetime, and the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of general relativity. Suitable for graduate students and researchers in gravitational physics.This textbook fills a gap in the existing literature on general relativity by providing the advanced student with practical tools for the computation of many physically interesting quantities. The context is provided by the mathematical theory of black holes, one of the most elegant, successful and relevant applications of general relativity. Topics discussed include congruences of timelike and null geodesics, the embedding of spacelike, timelike and null hypersurfaces in spacetime, and the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of general relativity. Suitable for graduate students and researchers in gravitational physics.This textbook fills a gap in the existing literature on general relativity by providing the advanced student with practical tools for the computation of many physically interesting quantities. The context is provided by the mathematical theory of black holes, one of the most successful and relevant applications of general relativity. Topics covered include congruences of timelike and null geodesics, the embedding of spacelike, timelike and null hypersurfaces in spacetime, and the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of general relativity.Preface; Notation and conventions; 1. Fundamentals; 2. Geodesic congrlSw