Relativity: Special, General, and Cosmological / Edition 2

by Wolfgang Rindler

Overview

Relativistic cosmology has in recent years become one of the most exciting and active branches of current research. In conference after conference the view is expressed that cosmology today is where particle physics was forty years ago, with major discoveries just waiting to happen. Also gravitational wave detectors, presently under construction or in the testing phase, promise to open up an entirely novel field of physics.

It is to take into account such recent developments, as well as to improve the basic text, that this second edition has been undertaken. The most affected is the last part on cosmology, but there are smaller additions, corrections, and additional exercises throughout.

The books basic purpose is to make relativity come alive conceptually. Hence the emphasis on the foundations and the logical subtleties rather than on the mathematics or the detailed experiments per se. Aided by some 300 exercises, the book promotes a deep understanding and the confidence to tackle any fundamental relativistic problem.

To request a copy of the Solutions Manual, visit: http: //global.oup.com/uk/academic/physics/admin/solutions

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198567325
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/01/2006
Edition description:	Revised Edition
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	1,062,703
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 6.28(h) x 0.97(d)

About the Author

Professor Wolfgang Rindler
Department of Physics
The University of Texas at Dallas
Richardson, TX 75083-0688
USA

Table of Contents

Introduction1. From Absolute Space and Time to Influenceable Spacetime: An OverviewPart I: Special Relativity2. Foundations of Special Relativity: The Lorentz Transformation3. Relativistic Kinematics4. Relativistic Optics5. Spacetime and Four-vectors6. Relativistic Particle Mechanics7. Four-tensors: Electromagnetism in VacuumPart II: General Relativity8. Curved Spaces and the Basic Ideas of General Relativity9. Static and Stationary Spacetimes10. Geodesics, Curvature Tensor, and Vacuum Field Equations11. The Schwarzschild Metric12. Black Holes and Kruskal Space13. An Exact Plane Gravitational Wave14. The Full Field Equations: De Sitter Space15. Linearized General RelativityPart III: Cosmology16. Cosmological Spacetimes17. Light Propagation in FRW Universes18. Dynamics of FRW Universes

Editorial Reviews

"A textbook for graduate or advanced undergraduate physics students who are familiar with calculus up to partial differentiation, ordinary vector, and the binomial theorem. Rindler (physics, U. of Texas-Dallas) has essentially rewritten his earlier Essential Relativity to account for the growing sophistication and inquisitiveness about relativity in mainstream physics. He does not provide a bibliography."—SciTech Book News

"This book should be on the shelf of all who are intrigued by the startling modern advances in our understanding of space and time."—American Journal of Physics

From the Publisher