Noether Symmetries in Theories of Gravity: With Applications to Astrophysics and Cosmology

Description

This volume summarizes the many alternatives and extensions to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, and shows how symmetry principles can be applied to identify physically viable models. The first part of the book establishes the foundations of classical field theory, providing an introduction to symmetry groups and the Noether theorems. A quick overview of general relativity is provided, including discussion of its successes and shortcomings, then several theories of gravity are presented and their main features are summarized. In the second part, the 'Noether Symmetry Approach' is applied to theories of gravity to identify those which contain symmetries. In the third part of the book these selected models are tested through comparison with the latest experiments and observations. This constrains the free parameters in the selected models to fit the current data, demonstrating a useful approach that will allow researchers to construct and constrain modified gravity models for further applications.

Francesco Bajardi is a Researcher at Scuola Superiore Meridionale in Napoli. His primary areas of research are general relativity, theoretical cosmology and theories of gravity. He graduated at the University of Palermo and obtained his Ph.D. at the Universita di Napoli 'Federico II'. Salvatore Capozziello is a Full Professor in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Universita di Napoli 'Federico II', and former President of the Italian Society for General Relativity and Gravitation. His primary areas of research are general relativity, cosmology and relativistic astrophysics. He has authored more than 600 scientific publications with more than 34,000 citations.