Relativity: An Introduction to Spacetime Physics

by Adams; Steve

• ISBN13: 9780748406210
• ISBN10: 0748406212
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1997-09-29
• Publisher: CRC Press

Summary

Provides the essential principles and results of special relativity as required by undergraduates. The text uses a geometric interpretation of space-time so that a general theory is seen as a natural extension of the special theory. Although most results are derived from first principles, complex and distracting mathematics is avoided and all mathematical steps and formulae are fully explained and interpreted, often with explanatory diagrams.; The emphasis throughout the text is on understanding the physics of relativity. The structure of the book is designed to allow students of different courses to choose their own route through the short self-contained sections in each chapter. The latter part of the book shows how Einstein's theory of gravity is central to unraveling fundamental questions of cosmology.

Table of Contents

1. CLASSICAL PHYSICS	1	(33)
1.1 What Is Classical Physics?	1	(4)
1.2 Newtonian Mechanics	5	(10)
1.3 Gravity	15	(2)
1.4 Maxwell's Electromagnetism	17	(5)
1.5 The Wave Model Of Light	22	(5)
1.6 A Summary Of Classical Physics To 1900	27	(7)
2. PROBLEMS WITH SPACE AND TIME	34	(96)
2.1 Problems Of Motion And Change	35	(3)
2.2 The Problem Of The Ether	38	(5)
2.3 The Michelson-Morley Experiment	43	(4)
2.4 The Principle Of Relativity	47	(3)
2.5 Time Dilation	50	(4)
2.6 The Time Dilation Formula	54	(3)
2.7 Testing Time Dilation	57	(5)
2.8 Length Contraction	62	(5)
2.9 The Relativity Of Simultaneity	67	(4)
2.10 Synchronization Errors And Corrections	71	(3)
2.11 Relativistic Velocity Addition	74	(7)
2.12 Relativistic Mass	81	(5)
2.13 Mass And Energy	86	(9)
2.14 Mass Energy And Momentum	95	(5)
2.15 Mass Energy And Particle Physics	100	(5)
2.16 The Twin Paradox, A First Look	105	(4)
2.17 The Lorentz Transformation	109	(6)
2.18 Using The Lorentz Transformation	115	(5)
2.19 Summary Of Ideas And Equations In Chapter 2	120	(1)
2.20 Problems	121	(9)
3. SPACETIME	130	(54)
3.1 The Geometry Of Space And Time	131	(5)
3.2 Spacetime Diagrams	136	(3)
3.3 Special Relativity And Geometry	139	(9)
3.4 Relativity And Geometry	148	(10)
3.5 Velocity Momentum And Energy	158	(4)
3.6 Spacetime Mechanics	162	(6)
3.7 Examples From Particle Physics	168	(5)
3.8 Summary Of Ideas And Equations In Chapter 3	173	(1)
3.9 Problems	174	(10)
4. GENERAL RELATIVITY AND COSMOLOGY	184	(81)
4.1 Inertial Forces	185	(3)
4.2 The Equivalence Principle	188	(5)
4.3 Gravity And Light	193	(6)
4.4 Gravity And Time	199	(8)
4.5 The Geometry Of Curvature	207	(7)
4.6 Gravity And Geometry	214	(7)
4.7 Non-Euclidean Geometry	221	(2)
4.8 The General Theory	223	(5)
4.9 The Geometry Of The Universe	228	(11)
4.10 Black Holes	239	(9)
4.11 Gravitational Waves	248	(8)
4.12 Summary Of Ideas And Equations In Chapter 4	256	(2)
4.13 Problems	258	(7)
5. APPENDIX	265	(9)
5.1 Relativity And Electromagnetism	265	(2)
5.2 Radiation Pressure	267	(1)
5.3 Solutions	268	(6)
Further Reading	274	(2)
Index	276