Gravitation
Foundations and Frontiers

Covering all aspects of gravitation in a contemporary style, this advanced textbook is ideal for graduate students and researchers.

T. Padmanabhan (Author)

9780521882231, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 January 2010

728 pages, 34 b/w illus. 228 exercises
25.4 x 17.9 x 3.6 cm, 1.55 kg

'… a comprehensive textbook containing both the fundamental and the frontier aspects of gravitation theory. The book is a real pleasure to read by a reader with basic knowledge in mathematics and physics.' Contemporary Physics

Covering all aspects of gravitation in a contemporary style, this advanced textbook is ideal for graduate students and researchers in all areas of theoretical physics. The 'Foundation' section develops the formalism in six chapters, and uses it in the next four chapters to discuss four key applications - spherical spacetimes, black holes, gravitational waves and cosmology. The six chapters in the 'Frontier' section describe cosmological perturbation theory, quantum fields in curved spacetime, and the Hamiltonian structure of general relativity, among several other advanced topics, some of which are covered in-depth for the first time in a textbook. The modular structure of the book allows different sections to be combined to suit a variety of courses. Over 200 exercises are included to test and develop the reader's understanding. There are also over 30 projects, which help readers make the transition from the book to their own original research.

1. Special relativity
2. Scalar and electromagnetic fields in special relativity
3. Gravity and spacetime geometry: the inescapable connection
4. Metric tensor, geodesics and covariant derivative
5. Curvature of spacetime
6. Einstein's field equations and gravitational dynamics
7. Spherically symmetric geometry
8. Black holes
9. Gravitational waves
10. Relativistic cosmology
11. Differential forms and exterior calculus
12. Hamiltonian structure of general relativity
13. Evolution of cosmological perturbations
14. Quantum field theory in curved spacetime
15. Gravity in higher and lower dimensions
16. Gravity as an emergent phenomenon
Notes
Index.

Subject Areas: Astrophysics [PHVB], Relativity physics [PHR], Cosmology & the universe [PGK]