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Preface to the second edition | p. xi |
Preface to the first edition | p. xiii |
Special relativity | p. 1 |
Fundamental principles of special relativity (SR) theory | p. 1 |
Definition of an inertial observer in SR | p. 3 |
New units | p. 4 |
Spacetime diagrams | p. 5 |
Construction of the coordinates used by another observer | p. 6 |
Invariance of the interval | p. 9 |
Invariant hyperbolae | p. 14 |
Particularly important results | p. 17 |
The Lorentz transformation | p. 21 |
The velocity-composition law | p. 22 |
Paradoxes and physical intuition | p. 23 |
Further reading | p. 24 |
Appendix: The twin 'paradox' dissected | p. 25 |
Exercises | p. 28 |
Vector analysis in special relativity | p. 33 |
Definition of a vector | p. 33 |
Vector algebra | p. 36 |
The four-velocity | p. 41 |
The four-momentum | p. 42 |
Scalar product | p. 44 |
Applications | p. 46 |
Photons | p. 49 |
Further reading | p. 50 |
Exercises | p. 50 |
Tensor analysis in special relativity | p. 56 |
The metric tensor | p. 56 |
Definition of tensors | p. 56 |
The (01) tensors: one-forms | p. 58 |
The (02) tensors | p. 66 |
Metric as a mapping of vectors into one-forms | p. 68 |
Finally: (MN) tensors | p. 72 |
Index 'raising' and 'lowering' | p. 74 |
Differentiation of tensors | p. 76 |
Further reading | p. 77 |
Exercises | p. 77 |
Perfect fluids in special relativity | p. 84 |
Fluids | p. 84 |
Dust: the number-flux vector N | p. 85 |
One-forms and surfaces | p. 88 |
Dust again: the stress-energy tensor | p. 91 |
General fluids | p. 93 |
Perfect fluids | p. 100 |
Importance for general relativity | p. 104 |
Gauss' law | p. 105 |
Further reading | p. 106 |
Exercises | p. 107 |
Preface to curvature | p. 111 |
On the relation of gravitation to curvature | p. 111 |
Tensor algebra in polar coordinates | p. 118 |
Tensor calculus in polar coordinates | p. 125 |
Christoffel symbols and the metric | p. 131 |
Noncoordinate bases | p. 135 |
Looking ahead | p. 138 |
Further reading | p. 139 |
Exercises | p. 139 |
Curved manifolds | p. 142 |
Differentiable manifolds and tensors | p. 142 |
Riemannian manifolds | p. 144 |
Covariant differentiation | p. 150 |
Parallel-transport, geodesics, and curvature | p. 153 |
The curvature tensor | p. 157 |
Bianchi identities: Ricci and Einstein tensors | p. 163 |
Curvature in perspective | p. 165 |
Further reading | p. 166 |
Exercises | p. 166 |
Physics in a curved spacetime | p. 171 |
The transition from differential geometry to gravity | p. 171 |
Physics in slightly curved spacetimes | p. 175 |
Curved intuition | p. 177 |
Conserved quantities | p. 178 |
Further reading | p. 181 |
Exercises | p. 181 |
The Einstein field equations | p. 184 |
Purpose and justification of the field equations | p. 184 |
Einstein's equations | p. 187 |
Einstein's equations for weak gravitational fields | p. 189 |
Newtonian gravitational fields | p. 194 |
Further reading | p. 197 |
Exercises | p. 198 |
Gravitational radiation | p. 203 |
The propagation of gravitational waves | p. 203 |
The detection of gravitational waves | p. 213 |
The generation of gravitational waves | p. 227 |
The energy carried away by gravitational waves | p. 234 |
Astrophysical sources of gravitational waves | p. 242 |
Further reading | p. 247 |
Exercises | p. 248 |
Spherical solutions for stars | p. 256 |
Coordinates for spherically symmetric spacetimes | p. 256 |
Static spherically symmetric spacetimes | p. 258 |
Static perfect fluid Einstein equations | p. 260 |
The exterior geometry | p. 262 |
The interior structure of the star | p. 263 |
Exact interior solutions | p. 266 |
Realistic stars and gravitational collapse | p. 269 |
Further reading | p. 276 |
Exercises | p. 277 |
Schwarzschild geometry and black holes | p. 281 |
Trajectories in the Schwarzschild spacetime | p. 281 |
Nature of the surface r = 2M | p. 298 |
General black holes | p. 304 |
Real black holes in astronomy | p. 318 |
Quantum mechanical emission of radiation by black holes: the Hawking process | p. 323 |
Further reading | p. 327 |
Exercises | p. 328 |
Cosmology | p. 335 |
What is cosmology? | p. 335 |
Cosmological kinematics: observing the expanding universe | p. 337 |
Cosmological dynamics: understanding the expanding universe | p. 353 |
Physical cosmology: the evolution of the universe we observe | p. 361 |
Further reading | p. 369 |
Exercises | p. 370 |
Summary of linear algebra | p. 374 |
References | p. 378 |
Index | p. 386 |
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The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.