| Relativity on the World Wide Web. Muy Completo |
Important Note! I don't have a secretary to help me maintain these pages, and to keep the work manageable, I have only attempted to list here some representative review papers, not any individual research papers, however important these might be. I hope the resources gathered here will help graduate students in any area of physics get some idea of the wealth of current research in gtr and closely related areas, and I'd also like to try do what little I can to ``reward'' those experts who have taken the trouble to try to write review papers of their special areas of expertise.
| Relativity
on the World Wide Web. Muy Completo
| A Short
Course on GR, by William L. Burke, (Physics, UC Santa Cruz).
Topics covered include weak field theory, gravitational waves, radiation
damping, cosmology, the Friedmann and Lemaitre dusts, singularities, black
holes, the Schwarzschild metric and Kruskal's extension of it. There is an
appendix on mathematical notation. This is a single postscript document (about
75 pages). | Lecture
Notes on General Relativity by Matthias
Blau (ICTP, Trieste). A very readable and complete set of course notes,
written for advanced undergraduates but also useful to graduate students,
particularly since they cover some topics which are slighted in other notes.
Topics covered include the equivalence principle, gravitational redshift,
tensor analysis, covariant derivatives, Lie derivatives, Killing vectors and
conservation laws, geodesics and effective potential analysis, the Riemann,
Weyl, Ricci, and Einstein curvature tensors, intrinsic versus extrinsic
geometry, the Bianchi identities, the Jacobi equation for geodesic deviation,
the principle of minimal coupling, the matter tensor and the Einstein field
equation, variational principles, a thorough study of the Schwarzschild
solution, weak field theory and gravitational waves (including detector
theory), and cosmology (vacuum, radiation, and matter dominated FRW models).
The lecture notes end with a very thorough discussion of the Kaluza-Klein
theory and and introduction to the notion of a non-abelian gauge theory. This
is a single postscript document (about 180 pages).
| Lecture Notes
on General Relativity, by Sean
M. Carroll (Physics, University of Chicago). From a course taught at MIT.
Topics covered include str, manifolds, covariant derivatives, connections,
curvature, Lie derivatives, pullbacks, Killing vectors, the Equivalence
Principle, the matter tensor, the field equation of gtr (Einstein's equation),
the initial value and variational principle formulations of the field
equation, weak field theory, gravitational waves, a complete discussion of the
Schwarzschild solution, cosmology and the Friedmann solutions. Carroll's
careful discussion of the geometry of the Kerr solution is particularly
noteworthy. The lectures are available as either html or postscript documents
(about 200 pages total).
| General Relativity,
by Petr Hadrava, (Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the
Czech Republic). Lecture notes (in English) on str and gtr. Topics include the
Equivalence Principle, the field equations, weak-field theory, the
Schwarzschild exterior (vacuum) and interior (stellar "fluid")
solutions, the Friedmann cosmological solutions. Two mathematical appendices
sketch the mathematics of tensor algebra, exterior algebra, connection, Lie
derivatives, Killing vectors, and variational principles. This is a single
postscript document (50 pages).
| Introduction to General
Relativity, by Gerard 't Hooft (Institute for Theoretical
Physics, Utrecht University). Lecture notes (in English) on gtr. Written for
advanced undergraduates, these notes work through the basics in careful
detail, but they would also be good for graduate students. 't Hooft won the
Nobel prize in physics for his work on quantum field theory, so it is
interesting to see his viewpoint on general relativity. This is a single
postscript document (69 pages). | |
| Rotating Stars
in Relativity , by Nikolaos Stergioulas (Physics, University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee) offers a very nice introduction to models of rotating
stars in hydrostatic equilibrium, as treated in gtr. Stergioulas also gives an
introduction to the important topic of CFS instabilities, a
phenomenom by which certain types of perturbations in a rotating relativistic
star in which frame dragging is significant (e.g. a rapidly rotating neutron
star) can actually be "pumped up" rather than "damped" by
the emission of gravitational radiation. ("CFS" stands for
Chandrasekhar, Friedmann, and Schutz, after the researchers who first
established the existence of this intriguing phenomenom.) See also the review
paper by Kokkotas and Schmidt listed below,
for more information about quasinormal modes in the perturbations of rotating
relativistic stars. This is an invited paper in the Living
Reviews series.
| Gravitational-Wave
Driven Instability of Rotating Relativistic Stars , by John L.
Friedman (Physics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and Keith H. Lockitch
(Physics, Penn. State) offers a brief review to r-mode instabilities,
the most frequently studied type of CFS instability.
| The Properties of
Matter in White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars , by Shmuel Balberg and
Stuart L. Shapiro (Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). This
readable survey provides an introduction to what is currently known about the
physical properties of condensed matter at the extreme densities found in
white dwarfs and neutron stars, and examines how well existing theories agree
with observations.
| Recent Progress
in Neutron Star Theory , by H. Heiselberg (NORDITA) and V.
Pandharipande (Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). This is a
more advanced survey of the theory of neutron stars, featuring a -huge-
bibliography!
| Superfluidity in
Relativistic Neutron Stars , by David Langlois (DARC, Meudon
& IAP, Paris) is concise survey of one of the most mysterious aspects of
neutron star interiors: there must be microscopic tubes of magnetic flux
threading the superfluid interior.
| Accretion
Processes Around Black Holes And Neutron Stars: Advective Disk Paradigm , by
Sandip K. Chakrabarti (S. N. Bose National Center for Basic Sciences,
Calcutta) offers a brief introduction to the physics of accretion disks, as
treated by the most popular model (advection dominated flow). | |
| Gravitational
Collapse and Cosmic Censorship , by Robert M. Wald (Physics,
University of Chicago) offers a review of the theoretical status of the weak
cosmic censorship hypothesis.
| Gravitational
Collapse , by P. S. Joshi (Tata Insitute of Fundamental Research,
Bombay) offers a gentle introduction to some of the most commonly studied
models of gravitationcal collapse, including
|
Critical Phenomena
in Gravitational Collapse, by Patrick R Brady and Mike J Cai
offers a concise and very readable introduction to this important and very
surprising recent discovery.
| Critical Phenomena
in Gravitational Collapse, by C. Gundlach (Enrico Fermi
Institute, University of Chicago), a very clear invited review paper in the Living
Reviews series. It is more detailed than the preceeding paper. (Note: see
the review paper by Coley listed below
for another way in which modern dynamical systems theory is useful in gtr.) | |
| Black
Holes, by Paul Townsend (Applied Mechanics and Theoretical
Physics, Cambridge). A very thorough introduction, studies the Schwarzschild,
Reissner-Nordstrom, and Kerr solutions using a variety of coordinate systems.
Additional topics include gravitational collapse, horizons, singularities,
Carter-Penrose diagrams (aka conformal compactification), Hawking radiation
and black hole thermodynamics. This is a 145 page postscript document.
| Scattering
by Black Holes, by N. Andersson and B.P. Jensen (Mathematics,
Univerity of Southampton). This excellent survey is one chapter in the
Encyclopedia on Scattering, which will be published by Academic Press. The
paper surveys wave propagation in black-hole spacetimes, diffraction effects
in wave scattering (including "light bending"), resonances, and
quasinormal modes, among other topics.
| Stringy
Black Holes, by Martijn Derix and Jan Pieter van der Schaar
(Institute for Theoretical Physics, Rijksuniversiteit, Groningen, The
Netherlands). An extensive set of htmlified lecture notes. Includes a review
of Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordstrom holes, elecric-magnetic duality,
dilaton holes, axion holes, and much more. | |
| The
Gravitational Wave Symphony of the Universe, by B.S.
Sathyaprakash (Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff) offers a concise overview of
the theory of astrophysical sources of gravitational radiation and the theory
of laser interferometric detectors..
| Gravitational
Radiation, by Bernard F Schutz (Max Planck Institute for
Gravitational Physics, Potsdam), offers a very nice introduction to this
subject. This is an article from the Encycopedia of Astronomy and
Astrophysics.
| Gravitational Wave
Astronomy, by Bernard F Schutz (Max Planck Institute for
Gravitational Physics, Potsdam). An readable and well balanced overview of the
theory of the generation and detection of gravitational waves. Appeared in Class.Quant.Grav.
16 (1999) A131-A156.
| Gravitational
Radiation Sources and Signatures, by Lee Samuel Finn (Center for
Gravitational Physics and Geometry, Penn State). An excellent introduction to
the theory of gravitational wave generation by astrophysical sources, the
theory of interferometer detectors such as LIGO, and a survey of possible
signals.
| Gravitational
Radiation from Relativistic Sources , by Luc Blanchet (CNRS,
France). Another very thorough introduction to the theory of gravitational
wave generation by astrophysical sources, more challenging than the previous
one.
| Gravitational
Radiation Theory and Light Propagation , by Luc Blanchet (CNRS,
France), Sergei Kopeikin (Physics & Astronomy, University of
Missouri-Columbia) and Gerhard Shaefer (Theoretical Physics Institute,
Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany) offers an introduction to the
propagation of light rays in gravitational fields, including post-Newtonian
effects beyond the quadrupole approximation, such as higher order multipoles,
spin-spin interactions, and back-reaction. Appeared in the book Gyros,
Clocks, and Interferometers: Testing Relativistic Gravity in Space, ed.
C. Laemmerzahl, C.W.F. Everitt, F.W. Hehl, Springer-Verlag, 2000.
| Probing Black Holes
and Relativistic Stars with Gravitational Waves, by Kip Thorne
(Theoretical Astrophysics, Cal Tech). Focuses on the theory of the LIGO
interferometers and similar detectors, and gives a survey of what kinds of
signals astrophysicists expect to ``hear'' with this instruments. This paper
appeared in the book Black Holes and Relativistic Stars: Proceedings of a
Conference in Memory of S. Chandrasekhar, ed. R. M. Wald, University of
Chicago Press, 1999. See also the same author's earlier
survey.
| Gravitational Wave
Experiments and Early-Universe Cosmology, by Michele Maggiore.
This is a review of possible signatures of the so called ``relic waves'' from
the very early universe, and the possibilities for detecting them using LIGO
and other interferometers. Appeared in Phys.Rept. 331 (2000) 283-367. | |
| Cosmological
models (Cargese lectures 1998), by George F. R. Ellis and Henk
van Elst (Physics, University of Cape Town). A beautiful survey of
mathematical models in cosmology, including anisotropic and inhomogeneous
models, with an emphasis on physical and geometric intuition. In my opinion,
this is a must read for every serious student. Appeared in the book Theoretical
and Observational Cosmology, ed. Marc Lachieze-Rey, Kluwer, 1999, pp
1-116.
| Dynamical Systems in
Cosmology, by A. A. Coley (Mathematics, Dalhousie University)
provides an excellent tutorial on the increasingly important role played by
dynamical systems methods in the analysis of ``minisuperspaces'' in cosmology.
See also the Ph.D. thesis
of Andrew P. Billyard.
| An Exposition on
Inflationary Cosmology, by Scott Watson (Physics, University of
North Carolina at Wilmington). This is an undergraduate level
exposition, including a nice sketch of pre-inflationary cosmology, and is a
natural choice for a first read in this area.
| Cosmic Inflation ,
by Andreas Albrecht (Physics, UC Davis), offers a timely and well
organized graduate level review of the current status of inflationary models
in cosmology.
| Modern
Observational Cosmology, by Greg Bothun (Physics, University of
Oregon), offers a nice overview of this subject as it existed just prior
to the astounding discovery that the cosmological constant is almost certainly
positive.
| The Cosmological
Constant, by Sean Carroll (Physics, University of Chicago),
offers an up-to-date review of this concept, which has recently assumed
renewed importance in cosmology. Carroll also discusses the connection with
the (mysteriously nonzero but low) vacuum energy predicted by some grand
unified theories.
| The Case for a
Positive Cosmological Lambda-term, by Varun Sahni
(Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, India) and Alexei
Starobinsky (Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Moscow). This is
article summarizes the recent and very compelling evidence for a positive
cosmological constant. Appeared in print: Int.J.Mod.Phys. D9 (2000)
373-444.
| The Cosmic
Microwave Background and Particle Physics, by Marc Kamionkowski
and Arthur Kosowsky, offers a 43 p. survey of the implications for particle
physics and cosmology of the next generation of CMBR observations. Topics
discussed include upper bounds derived from the best currently available CMBR
data on the amount of various hypothetical kinds of "dark matter",
including massive neutrinos, WIMPs, axions, and vacuum energy. The effect of
possible exotic topologies for spacelike slices is also discussed. Appeared in
print in Ann.Rev.Nucl.Part.Sci. 49 (1999) 77-123.
| Gravitational
Lensing in Astronomy , by Joachim Wambsganss (Astrophysikalisches
Institut, Potsdam) offers a gentle introduction to the theory of gravitational
lensing and its applications in cosmology. This is an invited review article
in the Living Reviews
series.
| Probing the
Universe with Weak Lensing, by Y. Mellier (Institut
d'Astrophysique de Paris and Obs. de Paris DEMIRM), offers a 60 p. review of
the cosmological implications of observations of weak lensing events.
| Weak
Gravitational Lensing , by Matthias Bartelmann and Peter
Schneider (MPA Garching), is a 223 p. review of the theory of weak
gravitational lensing, which is very important in the current search for
"dark matter". | |
| Numerical
Relativity in 3+1 Dimensions, by Bernd Bruegemann (Max Planck
Institute for Gravitation Physics, Potsdam) offers a concise overview of the
most important concepts and applications of numerical relativity. This was a
review talk for Journees Relativistes 1999.
| Numerical
Hydrodynamics in General Relativity, by Jose A. Font (MPA,
Garching) offers a comprehensive review (76 pages) of the state of the art of
numerical relativistic hydrodynamics, including conservative and hyperbolic
formulations of the EFE and Euler equations which are suitable for numerical
integration. Applications include numerical simulations of gravitational
collapse, accretion onto black holes, and evolution of neutron stars. This is
an invited review paper in the Living
Reviews series. The on-line version at the Living Reviews website includes
several animated graphics (fun, fun, fun!). | |
| Gravitation
and Experiment, by Thibault Damour (IHES, DARC) offers a concise
overview of this gigantic subject. Appeared in Proceedings of Princeton's
250th Anniversary Conference on Critical Problems in Physics (October
31-November 2, 1996), Princeton University Press, 1997. See also this updated
review by the same author, which appears in the year 2000 edition of the Review
of Particle Physics.
| The Confrontation
between General Relativity and Experiment: A 2001 Update, by
Clifford M. Will (Physics, Washington University, St. Louis) offers a more
extensive survey, including the classical solar system tests and binary pulsar
data, together with the prospects for direct detection of gravitational waves.
| Binary-pulsar tests
of strong-field gravity, by Gilles Esposito-Farese (Theoretical
Physics, CNRS) gives more detail concerning the very stringent tests posed by
binary-pulsar timing (and passed by gtr!), including the work of Taylor and
Hulse on PSR1913+16.
| Astrophysical
Evidence for the Existence of Black Holes by Annalisa Celotti,
John C. Miller, and Dennis W. Sciama (SISSA, Trieste, Italy), offers a short
history of how the existence of astrophysical black holes came to be
essentially universally accepted by astronomers. The paper focuses on the
rather different types of evidence for the two best known classes of
astrophysical black holes: supermassive black holes and solar mass black
holes. Appeared in the millenium issue of Class.Quant.Grav. 16 No 12A
(December 1999), A3.
| Supermassive
Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei, by John Kormendy (Univ.
Texas at Austin) and Luis C. Ho (Carnegie Observatories). In the past few
decades it has become universally accepted that supermassive black holes
provide the ``engine'' powering active galatic nuclei (AGN's) such as quasars
and Seyfert galaxies. This review article (to appear in The Encyclopedia
of Astronomy and Astrophysics (Institute of Physics Publishing),
discusses the currently available stellar dynamical evidence for supermassive
black holes living at the core of AGN's. | |
I have listed here some expository papers on the laws of black holes mechanics and their reformulation in terms of classical mechanics, using Hawking's astonishing discovery that black holes radiate with a black body spectrum and thus have a well defined temperature like any other black body (which is of course classical a perfect absorber, just like a black hole).
| The
Thermodynamics of Black Holes, by Robert M. Wald. An up-to-date
review by the leading expert in this field.
| Introductory
Lectures on Black Hole Thermodynamics, by Ted Jacobson (Insitute
for Theoretical Physics, University of Utrecht). Another up-to-date review by
the phsyicist who has made some progress toward deriving the Einstein field
equation from the laws of black hole thermodynamics, rather than the other way
around.
| An Introduction to
Black Hole Evaporation, by Jennie Traschen (Physics, University
of Massachusetts at Amherst). This very readable paper offers a tutorial in
the actual computation of Unruh, Hawking, Gibbons and other radiation, and
examines the end states of evaporation in de Sitter and AdS backgrounds, in
the case of charged and rotating holes. The paper has appeared in print in Mathematical
Methods of Physics, proceedings of the 1999 Londrina Winter School, ed.
by A. Bytsenko and F. Williams, World Scientific, 2000. | |
| Selected
Solutions of Einstein's Field Equations: Their Role in General Relativity and
Astrophysics, by Jiri Bicak (Institute of Theoretical Physics,
Charles University, Prague). This is a comprehensive introduction to the most
important exact solutions in gtr, including the Minkowksi, de Sitter, anti-de
Sitter background vacuums, the Schwarzschild solution and charged and rotating
generalizations, the Taub-Nut solution, plane waves, colliding plane waves,
cylindrical waves, and cosmological models. This is an invited paper from a
new book, Einstein Field Equations and Their Physical Implications,
edited by Berndt Schmidt, Springer, 2000. (126 pages).
| The Cauchy Problem
for the Einstein Equations , by H. Friedrich and A. D. Rendall
(Max Planck Institue for Gravitational Physics, Potsdam). This is a
comprehensive introduction to a fundamental but technically rather involved
topic in general relativity. This is a single postscript document (98 pages).
This paper appeared in print in the book Einstein's Field Equations and
their Physical Interpretation, (ed. B. G. Schmidt, Springer-Verlag, 2000.
| Quasi-Normal Modes
of Stars and Black Holes, by Kostas D. Kokkotas and Bernd G.
Schmidt. In Newtonian models of spherical stars, perturbations (e.g. due to a
small lump) can be decomposed into a sum over normal modes, rather like a
multidimensional Fourier series. In gtr, such vibrations are slowly damped out
(or sometimes -pumped up-!!) by the emission of gravitational radiation, so
they are called quasinormal modes. This important topic is the
subject of this invited review paper in the Living
Reviews series.
| Reflections on
Gravity, by Norbert Straumann (Institute for Theoretical Physics,
University of Zurich). This brief paper offers a nice sketch of an approach to
deriving the EFE which was advocated by Feynman. The basic idea is to start
with Newtonian gravitostatics, considered to consist of the Poisson equation
on -Minkowksi spacetime-, and then try to follow the model of how one passes
from electrostatics to Maxwell's theory of electrodynamics (which is Lorentz
covariant) and then to quantum electrodynamics, fixing up the approach as
needed. In particular, it turns out that one must introduce back reaction of
the gravitational field on matter, which leads a kind of infinite series of
approximations, which was cleverly "summed" by Deser. The end result
is the EFE! However, the original metric of flat spacetime turns out to be
unobservable and the original hypothesis of Lorentz covariance becomes moot! Caution!:
Straumann inexplicably fails to mention the fact that the approach he is
discussing only yields a "local mimic" of gtr; unless one carries
the "geometrization" one step further by interpreting the quantum
fields as existing on one of many coordinate charts, one excludes all the
solutions to the EFE which have nontrivial topology. The following paper
covers the ideas Straumann is discussing from a somewhat different
persepective (among many other topics).
| Actions for Gravity,
with Generalizations: A Review, by Peter Peldan (Institute of
Theoretical Physics, Chalmers Technical Univerisity and Goetteborg University,
Sweden) offers a very concise but comprehensive (as of 1993) review of
Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of general relativity, including
Askhetar's "new variables" Hamiltonian formalism. This is a 61 page
postscript document--- the diagram relating the various formalisms is alone
worth the price of admission. A word of advice: prospective readers should
first study the formulation of classical mechanics in terms of Lagrangians and
Hamiltonians first, and then study the appendix in Wald carefully and make
sure they understand the distinction between tensors and tensor densities.
Without this background, the reader will soon get lost. This paper appeared in
print in the premier journal in gravitation physics: Class.Quant.Grav.
11 (1994) 1087.
| Topological
Censorship, by Kristin Schleich and Donald M. Witt (Physics,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver) is an expository paper on an
important theorem, the Topological Censorship Theorem (proven by the authors
and John Friedman) which says in essence that any nontrivial topology of an isolated
system such as an individual black hole (possibly with exotic fields, aka
"hair") cannot be observed by distant observers. The
theorem assumes that the spacetime is globally hyperbolic (see the preceding
paper for the definition!) and that the null energy condition holds. Note
well: the first assumption fails for some very important exact solutions
in gtr, e.g. plane waves, and the second assumption fails for
"traversable wormholes" and for at least some solutions in many
proposed classical field theories involving scalar fields. Nevertheless, this
theorem is an important and fairly general result. This paper appeared in
print in Proceedings of the Lake Louise Winter Institute, Particle Physics
and Cosmology, Feb. 20-26, 1994, (World Scientific, 1994).
| New properties of
Cauchy and event horizons, by Robert Budzynski (Physics, Univ. of
Warsaw), Witold Kondracki and Andrzej Krolak (Institute of Mathematics, Polish
Academy of Sciences) discusses the state of our knowledge concerning the
smoothness properties of Cauchy and event horizons.
| Some Recent Progress
in Classical General Relativity, by Felix Finster, Joel Smoller,
and Shing-Tung Yau. This is an introduction to the positive mass theorem and
related results in the global analysis of generic solutions in gtr. The third
author won a Fields Medal (the highest award in mathematics) in part for his
role in proving the Positive Mass Theorem. This appeared in print: J.Math.Phys.
41 (2000) 3943-3963.
| Boost-Rotation
Symmetric Spacetimes - Review, by V. Pravda and A. Pravdova
(Mathematical Institute, Academy of Sciences, Prague) offers a readable
introduction to some of the most interesting exact solutions in gtr, including
accelerating pairs of black holes and many more examples. This paper appeared
in print: Czech.J.Phys. 50 (2000) 333-376. | |
| Quantum
Gravity at the Turn of the Millennium, by Gary Horowitz (Physics,
UC Santa Barbara), offers a concise and very readable (but of course very
sketchy!) overview of the state of the art in the search for a quantum theory
of gravity.
| Here are three very readable expository papers by Carlo Rovelli
(Physics, University of Pittsburgh), one of the leading researchers on quantum
gravity:
|
As Rovelli points out in one of these papers, this is a very rapidly developing and extremely active field of research, and his viewpoint should not be regarded as being the only one reasonable one, or as the definitive account of what quantum gravity is or should be and how it may be in the process of becoming a reality. Spacetime and the
Philosophical Challenge of Quantum Gravity, by J.Butterfield
(Oxford) and C.J.Isham (Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London) offers
a thoughtful discussion of conceptual problems which arise various approaches
to quantum gravity and how these might be overcome.
| Are We at the Dawn
of Quantum-Gravity Phenomenology?, by Giovanni Amelino-Camelia
(CERN) reviews recent progress in quantum gravity and argues that, contrary to
a long-held viewpoint, theories of quantum gravity may be testable.
| String/M-branes for
Relativists, by Donald Marolf (Physics, Syracuse University).
This offers a tutorial in string theory and M-brane theory for gtr students.
| Large N Field
Theories, String Theory and Gravity, by O. Aharony, S. S. Gubser,
J. Maldacena, H. Ooguri, and Y. Oz. This huge review paper covers the
holographic conjecture, connections with conformal field theories and the
anti-de-Sitter vacuum, and discusses some possible implications for the theory
of black holes. (261 page postscript document, with figures).
| Superstring
Cosmology, by James E. Lidsey (Astronomy, Queen Mary &
Westfield, London), David Wands (Computer Science and Mathematics,
Portsmouth), and E. J. Copeland (Center for Theoretical Physics, Suffex). This
review stresses the role of duality symmetries in superstring theory and their
cosmological implications. | |
| Advanced
Astrophysics, by Neb Duric (Physics and Astronomy, University of
New Mexico). A full length on-line set of course notes. Covers the virial
theorem, galactic rotation curves, galactic formation, galactic clusters and
other large scale structures, dark matter, the Hubble expansion, applications
of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics to astrophysics and cosmology,
COBE and the CMBR, astrophysics of planets, white dwarfs, supernovaes, X-ray
binaries, neutron stars, and black holes, accretion, the Eddington limit,
Reaction Rates and Equilibria in Astrophysics Planck, Boltzmann and Saha
equations, cosmological nucleosynthesis, solar neutrion problem, EM radiation,
magento, relativistic and thermal bremmsstrahlung, inverse Compton emisssion,
and more.
| Nucleosynthesis
Basics and Applications to Supernovae, by F.-K. Thielemann, T.
Rauscher , C. Freiburghaus (Physik und Astronomie, Universitaet Basel), K.
Nomoto, M. Hashimoto (Institute for Theoretical Physics, UC Santa Barbara), B.
Pfeiffer and K.-L. Kratz (Institut fuer Kernchemie, Universitaet Mainz). This
is a 52 page introduction to the basic equations for thermonuclear reaction
rates and nuclear reaction networks, and applications of this theory to
nucleosynthesis of heavy elements in aging stars.
| Topics in Neutrino
Astrophysics, by W. C. Haxton (Physics, University of Washington,
Seattle), offers a 56 page introduction to solar neutrino problem and its
implications.
| A Dying Universe:
The Long Term Fate and Evolution of Astrophysical Objects by Fred
C. Adams and Gregory Laughlin (Physics, Univ. of Michigan). This is a 57 page
postscript document, which appeared in Rev.Mod.Phys. 69 (1997)
337-372. | |
| Differential
Geometry, by Sergei Yakovenko (Weizmann Institute). A complete
set of lecture notes. Topics include manifolds, diffeomorphisms, partitions of
unity, the Whitney embedding theorem, tangent bundle, algebra of vector
fields, Lie derivatives, commutators, points as maximal ideals, derivations,
local rings, differentiable forms, etc.
| The Theory of
Caustics and Wavefront Singularities with Physical Applications, by
Juergen Ehlers (Max Planck Institute for Gravitation Physics, Potsdam) and
Ezra T. Newman (Physics and Astronomy, Pittsburgh). This is a tutorial paper
on the important work of V. I. Arnold and his collaborators, which is directly
applicable to geometric optics (including the propagation of gravitational
waves) in gtr.
| Noncommutative
Geometry for Pedestrians, by J. Madore (Universite de Paris Sud
and Max Planck Institute). As part of his far-reaching programme of
re-expressing most of physics and a huge chunk of modern mathematics in terms
of ``non-commutative geometry'', Alain Connes (a Fields's Medalist) has
recently partially reformulated the EFE in terms of operator theory. This
tutorial paper attempts to explain the background for this work. | |
| Riemannian
Geometry and General Relativity, the problem sets (with
solutions) from a course taught by Michael Shubin (Mathematics, Northeastern).
| Exercises in General
Relativity, from courses taught at the DEA of Theoretical Physics
(Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris) and at the University of Geneva
(1996-1999) by Jean-Philippe Uzan (Theoretical Physics, University of Geneva,
Switzerland). | |
I hope you'll inspired by the on-line resources listed on this page to go off-line and do some outside reading! Here is a list of recommended books at a variety of levels. And be sure to get hold of some symbolic tensor manipulation software--- this will make your life a lot easier!
Back to Relativity on the World Wide Web
