Basic Concepts In Relativistic Astrophysics

In this book, the interesting results of similar works carried out by both authors independently, is presented in a unique manner. This book is written as a token of exchange between the East and the West and it is hoped that it will lead to greater cooperation between the scientists.

In 1979 I gave graduate courses at the University of Zurich and lectured in the 'Troisieme Cycle de la Suisse Romande' (a consortium offour uni versities in the french-speaking part of Switzerland), and these lectures were the basis of the 'Springer Lecture Notes in Physics', Volume 150, published in 1981. This text appeared in German, because there have been few modern expositions of the general theory of relativity in the mother tongue of its only begetter. Soon after the book appeared, W. Thirring asked me to prepare an English edition for the 'Texts and Mono graphs in Physics'. Fortunately E. Borie agreed to translate the original German text into English. An excellent collaboration allowed me to re vise and add to the contents of the book. I have updated and improved the original text and have added a number of new sections, mostly on astrophysical topics. In particular, in collaboration with M. Camenzind I have included a chapter on spherical and disk accretion onto compact objects. This book divides into three parts. Part I develops the mathematical tools used in the general theory of relativity. Since I wanted to keep this part short, but reasonably self-contained, I have adopted the dry style of most modern mathematical texts. Readers who have never before been confronted with differential geometry will find the exposition too ab stract and will miss motivations of the basic concepts and constructions.

Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology offers a succinct and self-contained treatment of general relativity and its application to compact objects, gravitational waves and cosmology. The required mathematical concepts are introduced informally, following geometrical intuition as much as possible. The approach is theoretical, but there is ample discussion of observational aspects and of instrumental issues where appropriate. The book includes such topical issues as the Gravity Probe B mission, interferometer detectors of gravitational waves, and the physics behind the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Written for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students in (astro)physics, it is ideally suited for a lecture course and contains 140 exercises with extensive hints. The reader is assumed to be familiar with linear algebra and analysis, ordinary differential equations, special relativity, and basic thermal physics.

During the first decades after Einstein had developed his Theory of General Relativity, the main effort was to understand the theory and verify it experimentically. Meanwhile Genral Relativity is one of the experimentally best confirmed theories and has become a powerful tool for the investigation of cosmic processes where strong gravitational fields are involved. This book contains 16 contributions from well-known experts giving a broad overview for non-specialists who want to learn how to purely academic issues like gravitational wave detectors are now put into reality.

Though the kinematics of the evolving universe became known decades ago, research into the physics of processes occurring in the expanding universe received a reliable observational and theoretical basis only in more recent years. These achievements have led in turn to the emergence of new problems, on which an unusually active assault has begun. This second volume of Relativistic Astrophysics provides a remarkably complete picture of the present state of cosmology. It is a synthesis of the theoretical foundations of contemporary cosmology, which are derived from work in relativity, plasma theory, thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, and particle physics. It presents the theoretical work that explains, describes, and predicts the nature of the universe, the physical process that occur in it, the formation of galaxies, the synthesis of the light elements, and the cosmological singularity and the theory of gravitation. This book, long and eagerly awaited, is essential for everyone whose work is related to cosmology and astrophysics.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 13th Course of the International School of Cosmic Ray Astrophysics. It focuses on major areas of astrophysics, their relation to cosmic ray physics, and our current understanding of the energetic processes in the Galaxy and the Universe that govern the acceleration and form the features of the cosmic rays that we detect at Earth.The proceedings have been selected for coverage in: ? Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)? CC Proceedings ? Engineering & Physical Sciences

This comprehensive textbook develops in a logical and coherent way both the formalism and the physical ideas of special and general relativity. Part one focuses on the special theory and begins with the study of relativistic kinematics from three points of view. Part two begins with a chapter introducing differential geometry. Subsequent chapters cover: rotation, the electromagnetic field, and material media. A second chapter on differential geometry provides the background for Einstein's gravitational-field equation and Schwarzschild's solution. The book is aimed at advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students in physics or astrophysics.