Syllabus,GeneralRelativity

SpringSemester,2015
Instructor:YihYuhChen

Thiscoursediscussestheelementsoftheclassicalgeneraltheoryofrelativity.Itis
expectedthatthestudentstakingthiscoursearealreadyfamiliarwiththelanguage
ofthespecialtheoryofrelativity,classicalmechanics,andclassicalelectromagnetism.
Themathematicalprerequisitesincludelinearalgebra,differentialandintegral
calculus,vectorcalculus,andpartialdifferentialequations.Inaddition,doanticipate
somemessycalculationsalongtheway.

GradingPolicy:
Incontrasttomostothercourses,thisoneisgradedonaPass/Failbasis.
Homework:40%
Midterm:30%
FinalExam:30%
Youpassthecoursewithatotalscoreofnolessthan60%.

Textbook:None,officially.
Someeasilyaccessiblereadings:
1. J.FosterandJ.D.Nightingale,AShortCourseinGeneralRelativity,3rded,Springer
(2006).NTUcampusaccess:
http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9780387275833/page/1
2. N.M.J.Woodhouse,GeneralRelativity,Springer(2007).NTUcampusaccess:
http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9781846284878/page/1
3. BenjaminCrowell,GeneralRelativity(2009).Freeonlineaccess:
http://www.lightandmatter.com/genrel/
4. SeanM.Carroll,LectureNotesonGeneralRelativity(1997).Freeonlineaccess:
http://arxiv.org/abs/grqc/9712019

OutlineofContents:
(Notnecessarilytobestrictlyfollowed.)

1. Reviewofspecialrelativity:
TheLorentztransformation
Thomasprecessionasamanifestationoflengthcontraction
Spacetimediagramand4vectors

Geometrizationofthelawofconservationofenergymomentum
Symmetrycanbeasevereconstraintputinbyhand
Conservationlawisalocalthing
Coordinatebasisandthemetric

2. Uniformlyacceleratedobserver,andhisneighbors:
Uniformaccelerationismeaningfulonlytooneself
Neighborskeepingafixeddistanceupstairsisnotexperiencingthesame
acceleration
Aneventhorizonsomewheredownstairsandparticletrajectories
Nothingstrangehappenswhenfallingintotheeventhorizon
Theequivalenceprinciple
Thegravitationalredshift

3. Curvatureandtensors:
Curvatureofaspatialcurve
Curvatureofacurvelyingonasurface

Detectingthecurvaturewithoutleavingthesurface
Conceptofconnection
Paralleltransport
Foucaultspendulumasamanifestationofparalleltransport
Thomasprecessionasamanifestationofparalleltransport
Anasideondualspace,tensors,andallthat
Straintensor,stresstensor,andstressenergytensor
TheRiemanncurvaturetensor
Geodesicdeviation

4. Einsteinsfieldequation:
FromNewtonslawofgravitationtoitsrelativisticgeneralization
Theweakfieldapproximationandinterpretation
Gravitationalwaves
Thevariationalformulation

5. TheSchwarzschildsolution:
Themetric
Precessionofplanetaryorbitsaboutthesun
Bendingofstarlightnearthesun
Gravitationallensing

Thegravitationalredshift,again
Geodeticeffect
Theeventhorizon
Nothingstrangehappenswhenfallingintotheeventhorizon
Blackholes
Possibilityofwormholesandtimemachines

6. Cosmology:
TheFriedmanRobertsonWalkermetric
Theexpandinguniverse