A General Relativity Workbook is atextbook intended to support a one-semester upper division undergraduatecourse on general relativity.
General relativity, which lies at the heart of contemporary physics, has recently become the focus of a number of lively theoretical, experimental, and computational research programs. As a result, undergraduates have become increasingly excited to learn about the subject.A General Relativity Workbook is a textbook intended to support a one-semester upper division undergraduate course on general relativity. Through its unique workbook-based design, it enables students to develop a solid mastery of both the physics and the supporting tensor calculus by pushing (and guiding) them to work through the implications. Each chapter, which is designed to correspond to one class session, involves a short overview of the concepts without obscuring derivations or details, followed by a series of boxes that guide students through the process of working things out for themselves.This active-learning approach enables students to develop a more secure mastery of the material than more traditional approaches. More than 350 homework problems support further learning. This book more strongly emphasizes the physics than many of its competitors, and while it provides students a full grounding in the supporting mathematics (unlike certain other competitors), it introduces the mathematics gradually and in a completely physical context.

Autorentext

Thomas A. Moore is a professor in the physics department of Pomona College. He graduated from Carleton College in 1976, and earned an M. Phil. in 1978 and a Ph. D. in 1981 from Yale University. He then taught at Carleton College and Luther College before taking his current position at Pomona College in 1987, where he won a Wig Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1991. He served as an active member of the national Introductory University Physics Project (IUPP), and has published a number of articles about astrophysical sources of gravitational waves, detection of gravitational waves, and new approaches to teaching physics. His previous books include A Traveler's Guide to Spacetime (McGraw-Hill, 1995) on special relativity, and a six-volume introductory calculus-based physics text called Six Ideas That Shaped Physics (McGraw-Hill, 2003).

Inhalt

1. Introduction
   
   2. Review of Special Relativity
   3. Four-Vectors
   4. Index Notation
   5. Arbitrary Coordinates
   6. Tensor Equations
   7. Maxwell’s Equations
   8. Geodesics
   9. The Schwarzschild Metric
   10. Particle Orbits
   11. Precession of the Perihelion
   12. Photon Orbits
   13. Deflection of Light
   14. Event Horizon
   15. Alternative Coordinates
   16. Black Hole Thermodynamics
   17. The Absolute Gradient
   18. Geodesic Deviation
   19. The Riemann Tensor
   20. The Stress-Energy Tensor
   21. The Einstein Equation
   22. Interpreting the Equation
   23. The Schwarzschild Solution
   24. The Universe Observed
   25. A Metric for the Cosmos
   26. Evolution of the Universe
   27. Cosmic Implications
   28. The Early Universe
   29. CMB Fluctuations and Inflation
   30. Gauge Freedom
   31. Detecting Gravitational Waves
   32. Gravitational Wave Energy
   33. Generating Gravitational Waves
   34. Gravitational Wave Astronomy
   35. Gravitomagnetism
   36. The Kerr Metric
   37. Particle Orbits in Kerr Spacetime
   38. Ergoregion and Horizon
   39. Negative-Energy Orbits
       Index