Relativity: An Introduction to Special and General Relativity

Description

Thoroughly revised and updated, this textbook provides a pedagogical introduction to relativity. It is self-contained, but the reader is expected to have a basic knowledge of theoretical mechanics and electrodynamics. It covers the most important features of both special and general relativity, as well as touching on more difficult topics, such as the field of charged pole-dipole particles, the Petrov classification, groups of motions, gravitational lenses, exact solutions and the structure of infinity. The necessary mathematical tools (tensor calculus, Riemannian geometry) are provided, most of the derivations are given in full, and exercises are included where appropriate. Written as a textbook for undergraduate and introductory graduate courses, it will also be of use to researchers working in the field. The bibliography gives the original papers and directs the reader to useful monographs and review papers.

'All in all this is an impressive range of topics to cover in an introductory survey which starts more or less from scratch ... The mathematical treatment is rigorous but perfectly accessible to physics and applied mathematics students in their third or fourth years. ... It can be recommended, not only to students of relativity but to astrophysicists, cosmologists and particle physicists. It would also be of great use to physicists from other fields, at all levels, not attending a formal course, but rather interested in getting to grips with the subject by private study.' Contemporary Physics '... the book is well written and contains a fair selection of topics for a beginning student of general relativity ... Besides being a textbook, because of its standard notation and clear style it can also be used as a reference ... Hans Stephani has produced a fine textbook of general relativity in the classical tradition.' General Relativity and Gravitation