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Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity

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Einstein's theory of general relativity is a cornerstone of modern physics. It also touches upon a wealth of topics that students find fascinating – black holes, warped spacetime, gravitational waves, and cosmology. Now reissued by Cambridge University Press, this ground-breaking text helped to bring general relativity into the undergraduate curriculum, making it accessible to virtually all physics majors. One of the pioneers of the 'physics-first' approach to the subject, renowned relativist James B. Hartle, recognized that there is typically not enough time in a short introductory course for the traditional, mathematics-first, approach. In this text, he provides a fluent and accessible physics-first introduction to general relativity that begins with the essential physical applications and uses a minimum of new mathematics. This market-leading text is ideal for a one-semester course for undergraduates, with only introductory mechanics as a prerequisite.

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  • 'Physics-first' approach, so relevant simple solutions of the Einstein equation are presented first, before introducing the field equations of general relativity and their supporting mathematics, brings the student to the heart of the physical phenomena as quickly as possible
  • Novel and simple examples are used to keep the presentation concise and accessible, for instance, Schwarzschild black holes, spherical stars, weak gravitational waves in flat spacetime
  • Only absolutely essential new mathematical concepts are introduced, and these only when needed, to make GR accessible to physics students with typical calculus knowledge
  • Layered structure and included course map allow the text to be used for a range of course lengths and levels, from junior level to introductory graduate level in physics and astronomy
Author: Hartle James
Publisher: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Pages: 602
ISBN: 9781316517543
Cover: Hardback
Edition Number: 1
Release Year: 2021

List of Boxes
Preface
Figure credits
Part I. Space and Time in Newtonian Physics and Special Relativity:
1. Gravitational physics
2. Geometry as physics
3. Space, time, and gravity in Newtonian physics
4. Principles of special relativity
5. Special relativistic mechanics. Part II. The Curved Spacetimes of General Relativity:
6. Gravity as geometry
7. Description of curved spacetime
8. Geodesics
9. The geometry outside a spherical star
10. Solar System tests of general relativity
11. Relativistic gravity in action
12. Gravitational collapse and black holes
13. Astrophysical black holes
14. A little rotation
15. Rotating black holes
16. Gravitational waves
17. The universe observed
18. Cosmological models
19. Which universe and why?. Part III. The Einstein Equation:
20. A little more math
21. Curvature and the Einstein equation
22. The source of curvature
23. Gravitational wave emission
24. Relativistic stars
Appendix A. Units
Appendix B. Curvature quantities
Appendix C. Curvature and the Einstein equation
Appendix D. Pedagogical strategy
Bibliography
Index.

James B. Hartle is Professor of Physics at the University of California–Santa Barbara. His scientific work is concerned with the application of Einstein's relativistic theory of gravitation (general relativity) to realistic astrophysical situations, especially cosmology. He has made important contributions to the understanding of gravitational waves, relativistic stars, and black holes. Professor Hartle is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Philosophical Society. He is a founder and past director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara. He was awarded the 2009 Einstein Prize of the American Physical Society for his work on gravitational physics.

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