Gravitational Solitons

This 2001 book explains the construction of exact soliton solutions to Einstein's theory of gravity.

V. Belinski (Author), E. Verdaguer (Author)

9780521805865, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 July 2001

274 pages, 23 b/w illus.
24.4 x 17 x 1.6 cm, 0.64 kg

' … this is a complete and detailed treatment of a complicated subject. The authors provide a general introduction to their methods and the book is essentially self-contained. It could in principle be read by a third year undergraduate who had taken an introductory course in general relativity, particularly one who was interested in integrable systems.' Contemporary Physics

This 2001 book gives a self-contained exposition of the theory of gravitational solitons and provides a comprehensive review of exact soliton solutions to Einstein's equations. The text begins with a detailed discussion of the extension of the Inverse Scattering Method to the theory of gravitation, starting with pure gravity and then extending it to the coupling of gravity with the electromagnetic field. There follows a systematic review of the gravitational soliton solutions based on their symmetries. These solutions include some of the most interesting in gravitational physics such as those describing inhomogeneous cosmological models, cylindrical waves, the collision of exact gravity waves, and the Schwarzschild and Kerr black holes. A valuable reference for researchers and graduate students in the fields of general relativity, string theory and cosmology, this book will also be of interest to mathematical physicists in general.

Preface
1. Inverse scattering technique in gravity
2. General properties of gravitational solitons
3. Einstein-Maxwell fields
4. Cosmology: diagonal metrics from Kasner
5. Cosmology: nondiagonal metrics and perturbed FLRW
6. Cylindrical symmetry
7. Plane waves and colliding plane waves
8. Axial symmetry
Bibliography
Index.

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