SUBJECT
Title
General relativity
Type of instruction
lecture
Level
master
Faculty
Part of degree program
Credits
3
Recommended in
Semester 2
Typically offered in
Spring semester
Course description
It lays the fundations to the next term course “Cosmology”. Syllabus: Curved coordinates, metric tensor. The principle of equivalence. Covariant derivatives. Riemannian, Ricci tensor. Energy-momentum tensor. Einstein's equations. Schwarzschild metric. Weak gravitational fields. Gravitational waves. Experimental evidence: precession of apsides, light deflection, Gravity Probe B experiment, Hulse-Taylor pulsar. Friedmann–Robertson–Walker metric. Expansion of the universe, red shift. Cosmological constant. Cosmological inflation.
Readings
recommended readings:
- L.D. Landau, E.M. Lifshitz: “The Classical Theory of Fields”. Vol. 2 (4th ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann, 1975
- Bernard Schutz: “A first course in general relativity”, Cambridge, University Press, 1985
- Robert Wald: “General Relativity”, The University of Chicago Press, 1984
- Edward W.Kolb, Michael S.Turner: ”The Early Universe”, Addison-Wesley, 1990