On General Relativity

"Wald's book is clearly the first textbook on general relativity with a totally modern point of view; and it succeeds very well where others are only partially successful. The book includes full discussions of many problems of current interest which are not treated in any extant book, and all these matters are considered with perception and understanding."—S. Chandrasekhar "A tour de force: lucid, straightforward, mathematically rigorous, exacting in the analysis of the theory in its physical aspect."—L. P. Hughston, Times Higher Education Supplement "Truly excellent. . . . A sophisticated text of manageable size that will probably be read by every student of relativity, astrophysics, and field theory for years to come."—James W. York, Physics Today

Based on a course taught for years at Oxford, this book offers a concise exposition of the central ideas of general relativity. The focus is on the chain of reasoning that leads to the relativistic theory from the analysis of distance and time measurements in the presence of gravity, rather than on the underlying mathematical structure. Includes links to recent developments, including theoretical work and observational evidence, to encourage further study.

A straightforward introduction to General Relativity, explaining the physical, philosophical and mathematical ideas it is built on.

An accessible introductory textbook on general relativity, covering the theory's foundations, mathematical formalism and major applications.

This book provides an introduction to the mathematics and physics of general relativity, its basic physical concepts, its observational implications, and the new insights obtained into the nature of space-time and the structure of the universe. It introduces some of the most striking aspects of Einstein's theory of gravitation: black holes, gravitational waves, stellar models, and cosmology. It contains a self-contained introduction to tensor calculus and Riemannian geometry, using in parallel the language of modern differential geometry and the coordinate notation, more familiar to physicists. The author has strived to achieve mathematical rigour, with all notions given careful mathematical meaning, while trying to maintain the formalism to the minimum fit-for-purpose. Familiarity with special relativity is assumed. The overall aim is to convey some of the main physical and geometrical properties of Einstein's theory of gravitation, providing a solid entry point to further studies of the mathematics and physics of Einstein equations.

This textbook provides an introduction to general relativity for mathematics undergraduates or graduate physicists. After a review of Cartesian tensor notation and special relativity the concepts of Riemannian differential geometry are introducted. More emphasis is placed on an intuitive grasp of the subject and a calculational facility than on a rigorous mathematical exposition. General relativity is then presented as a relativistic theory of gravity reducing in the appropriate limits to Newtonian gravity or special relativity. The Schwarzchild solution is derived and the gravitational red-shift, time dilation and classic tests of general relativity are discussed. There is a brief account of gravitational collapse and black holes based on the extended Schwarzchild solution. Other vacuum solutions are described, motivated by their counterparts in linearised general relativity. The book ends with chapters on cosmological solutions to the field equations. There are exercises attached to each chapter, some of which extend the development given in the text.

Relativity, apart from quantum mechanics, is the greatest wonder in science, unfolded single-handedly in the 20th century by Albert Einstein. The scientist developed general relativity as a logical sequel to special relativity. This comprehensive book presents explication of the conceptual evolution and mathematical derivations of the theories of special and general relativity. The book follows an Einsteinian approach while explaining the concepts and the theories of relativity. Divided into 14 chapters, the revised edition of the book covers elementary concepts of Special relativity, as well as the advanced studies on General relativity. The recent theories like Kerr geometry, Sagnac effect, Vaidya geometry, Raychaudhuri equation and Gravitation physics vis-à-vis Quantum physics are presented in easy-to-understand language and simple style. In addition to it, the book gives an in-depth analysis on the applications of advanced theories like Vaidya-Krori-Barua solution from author’s own research works. Apart from that, the book also discusses some of the isotropic and anisotropic cosmological models, in detail. The salient topics discussed in the revised edition of the book are extrinsic curvature, detection of gravitational waves, early universe, evolution of a dead star into a white dwarf or a neutron star or a black hole, dark matter and dark energy. This book is intended for the undergraduate and postgraduate students of Physics and Mathematics. KEY FEATURES • Step-by-step derivation of equations • Easy demagogic approach • Review questions to widen the analytical understanding of the students

A self-contained introduction to advanced general relativity.