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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.
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.
For about half a century the general theory of relativity attracted little attention from physicists. However, the discovery of compact objects such as quasars and pulsars, as well as candidates for black holes on the one hand, and the microwave background radiation on the other hand completely changed the picture. In addition, developments in elementary particle physics, such as predictions of the behavior of matter at the ultrahigh energies that might have prevailed in the early stages of the big bang, have greatly en hanced the interest in general relativity. These developments created a large body of readers interested in general relativity, and its applications in astrophysics and cosmology. Having neither the time nor the inclination to delve deeply into the technical literature, such readers need a general introduction to the subject before exploring applica tions. It is for these readers that the present volume is intended. Keeping in mind the broad range of interests and wanting to avoid mathematical compli cations as much as possible, we have ventured to combine all three topics relativity, astrophysics, and cosmology-in a single volume. Naturally, we had to make a careful selection of topics to be discussed in order to keep the book to a manageable length.
Relativistic Astrophysics brings together important astronomical discoveries and the significant achievements, as well as the difficulties in the field of relativistic astrophysics. This book is divided into 10 chapters that tackle some aspects of the field, including the gravitational field, stellar equilibrium, black holes, and cosmology. The opening chapters introduce the theories to delineate gravitational field and the elements of relativistic thermodynamics and hydrodynamics. The succeeding chapters deal with the gravitational fields in matter; stellar equilibrium and general relativity stability; and the properties of pulsar, rotating and neutron stars. The discussion then shifts to the association between gravitational collapse and black holes, as well as the astrophysical investigations of neutron stars and black holes. The final chapters examine the principles of gravitational waves and advances in understanding the field of cosmology. This book will be of great value to astrophysicists and related scientists.
Two of the greatest astrophysicists of the 20th century explore general relativity, properties of matter under astrophysical conditions, stars, and stellar systems. A valuable resource for physicists, astronomers, graduate students. 1971 edition.
"This is a remarkable book: a symposium proceedings volume that will also function as a graduate-level text. Dedicated to the great theorist S. Chandrasekhar, the book consists of ten well-written chapters that cover the essential tools of theoretical astrophysics. The first half of the volume is concerned with the theory of how stars work (structure, stability, rotation, magnetism, dynamics) and the latter half is mainly a survey of relativistic astrophysics. . . . Read it for a broad-brush view of what theorists are up to now and how they solve problems."—Journal of the British Astronomical Association "The book as a whole should be a gift from every research supervisor to every new graduate student in theoretical astronomy."—D. W. Sciama, Science
Astrophysics is said to have been born when Isaac Newton saw an apple drop in his orchard and had the electrifying insight that the Moon falls just like that apple. James Binney shows how the application of physical laws derived on Earth allows us to understand objects that exist on the far side of the Universe.
This book provides a completely revised and expanded version of the previous classic edition ‘General Relativity and Relativistic Astrophysics’. In Part I the foundations of general relativity are thoroughly developed, while Part II is devoted to tests of general relativity and many of its applications. Binary pulsars – our best laboratories for general relativity – are studied in considerable detail. An introduction to gravitational lensing theory is included as well, so as to make the current literature on the subject accessible to readers. Considerable attention is devoted to the study of compact objects, especially to black holes. This includes a detailed derivation of the Kerr solution, Israel’s proof of his uniqueness theorem, and a derivation of the basic laws of black hole physics. Part II ends with Witten’s proof of the positive energy theorem, which is presented in detail, together with the required tools on spin structures and spinor analysis. In Part III, all of the differential geometric tools required are developed in detail. A great deal of effort went into refining and improving the text for the new edition. New material has been added, including a chapter on cosmology. The book addresses undergraduate and graduate students in physics, astrophysics and mathematics. It utilizes a very well structured approach, which should help it continue to be a standard work for a modern treatment of gravitational physics. The clear presentation of differential geometry also makes it useful for work on string theory and other fields of physics, classical as well as quantum.
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.
Special relativity is the basis of many fields in modern physics: particle physics, quantum field theory, high-energy astrophysics, etc. This theory is presented here by adopting a four-dimensional point of view from the start. An outstanding feature of the book is that it doesn’t restrict itself to inertial frames but considers accelerated and rotating observers. It is thus possible to treat physical effects such as the Thomas precession or the Sagnac effect in a simple yet precise manner. In the final chapters, more advanced topics like tensorial fields in spacetime, exterior calculus and relativistic hydrodynamics are addressed. In the last, brief chapter the author gives a preview of gravity and shows where it becomes incompatible with Minkowsky spacetime. Well illustrated and enriched by many historical notes, this book also presents many applications of special relativity, ranging from particle physics (accelerators, particle collisions, quark-gluon plasma) to astrophysics (relativistic jets, active galactic nuclei), and including practical applications (Sagnac gyrometers, synchrotron radiation, GPS). In addition, the book provides some mathematical developments, such as the detailed analysis of the Lorentz group and its Lie algebra. The book is suitable for students in the third year of a physics degree or on a masters course, as well as researchers and any reader interested in relativity. Thanks to the geometric approach adopted, this book should also be beneficial for the study of general relativity. “A modern presentation of special relativity must put forward its essential structures, before illustrating them using concrete applications to specific dynamical problems. Such is the challenge (so successfully met!) of the beautiful book by Éric Gourgoulhon.” (excerpt from the Foreword by Thibault Damour)