General Relativity
An Introduction for Physicists

An advanced textbook providing a clear mathematical introduction to general relativity and its physical applications.

M. P. Hobson (Author), G. P. Efstathiou (Author), A. N. Lasenby (Author)

9780521829519, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 February 2006

592 pages, 94 b/w illus. 8 tables 368 exercises
25.1 x 17.3 x 3 cm, 1.321 kg

'The book is well-written and easy to follow because it is essentially self-contained and every new concept is carefully motivated and justified. Exercises are given at the end of every chapter and numerous examples appear throughout the text.' General Relativity and Gravitation

General Relativity: An Introduction for Physicists provides a clear mathematical introduction to Einstein's theory of general relativity. It presents a wide range of applications of the theory, concentrating on its physical consequences. After reviewing the basic concepts, the authors present a clear and intuitive discussion of the mathematical background, including the necessary tools of tensor calculus and differential geometry. These tools are then used to develop the topic of special relativity and to discuss electromagnetism in Minkowski spacetime. Gravitation as spacetime curvature is then introduced and the field equations of general relativity derived. After applying the theory to a wide range of physical situations, the book concludes with a brief discussion of classical field theory and the derivation of general relativity from a variational principle. Written for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, this approachable textbook contains over 300 exercises to illuminate and extend the discussion in the text.

1. The spacetime of special relativity
2. Manifolds and coordinates
3. Vector calculus on manifolds
4. Tensor calculus on manifolds
5. Special relativity revisited
6. Electromagnetism
7. The equivalence principle and spacetime curvature
8. The gravitational field equations
9. The Schwarzschild geometry
10. Experimental tests of general relativity
11. Schwarzschild black holes
12. Further spherically-symmetric geometries
13. The Kerr geometry
14. The Friedmann–Robertson–Walker geometry
15. Cosmological models
16. Inflationary cosmology
17. Linearised general relativity
18. Gravitational waves
19. A variational approach to general relativity.

Subject Areas: Relativity physics [PHR], Physics [PH], Cosmology & the universe [PGK]