Relativity and Cosmology: From First Principles to Interpretations provides a high-quality and highly relevant astrophysics grounding for senior undergraduate students. This comprehensive textbook emphasizes an illustrative, pedagogical approach and aims to strike a balance between the breadth and depth of the material presented, frequently tying new material – relativistic mechanics and gravity – to the classical mechanics and gravity with which readers are more familiar. It includes robust content and corresponding exercises, figures, and appendices on many exciting developments, including relativistic mechanics; Newtonian classical mechanics; relativistic spacetime; special relativity; general relativity; tensor calculus; cosmology; Einstein’s field equations; dark matter; dark energy; and black holes.
This accessible edition delivers helpful and engaging additions to the role and importance of physics in cosmology and relativity. It is ideal for courses in physics, astrophysics, astronomy, and related subjects.
Key Features
- Introduces practical, mathematical approaches for applying fundamental concepts in relativity and cosmology
- Places an emphasis on illustrative pedagogical approaches with applied examples
- Strikes a balance between the breadth and depth of the material presented, frequently tying the new material – including relativistic mechanics and gravity – to the classical mechanics and gravity with which readers may be more familiar
- Includes numerous figures, examples, illustrative problems, and appendices which provide convenient access to the important physics concepts used in the text
- Offers online support, including a full solutions manual for qualified instructors and additional programming resources (PowerPoints and Python files)
2. Special Relativity
3. The Equivalence Principle
4. General Relativity
5. Einstein’s Field Equations
6. The Schwarzschild Metric and Black Holes
7. Cosmological Metric and Friedmann’s Equations
8. Solutions of Friedmann’s Equations
9. Cosmological Constant and the Dark Universe
10. Cosmic Distances
11. Summary of the Foundations of Cosmology
12. Cosmic Inventory
13. Brief History of the Early Universe
14. Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
Appendices
A: An Alternative Lagrangian
B: Geodesic Equation in Spherical Coordinates
C: Example of Metric Conversion
D: Applying the Geodesic Equation
E: Matter–Dark Energy Equality
F: Radiation–Dark Energy Equality
G: Radiation-Matter Equality
H: Chemical Potential
I: How to Compute the Relative Abundances of the Light Elements
I: Equation of State for the Perfect Fluid
- Figures
- Appendix_C_Example of Metric Conversion
- Appendix_D_Applying the Geodesic Equation
- Appendix_J_Equation of State for the Perfect Fluid
- Chapter_02_Special Relativity
- Chapter_03_The Equivalence Principle
- Chapter_04_General Relativity
- Chapter_05_Einstein’s Field Equations
- Chapter_06_The Schwarzschild Metric and Black Holes
- Chapter_07_Cosmological Metric and Friedmann’s Equations
- Chapter_08_Solutions of Friedmann’s Equations
- Chapter_09_Cosmological Constant and the Dark Universe
- Chapter_10_Cosmic Distances
- Chapter_11_Summary of the Foundations of Cosmology
- Chapter_12_Cosmic Inventory
- Chapter_14_Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
- Lecture Slides
- Chapter_01_Introduction
- Chapter_02_Special Relativity
- Chapter_03_The Equivalence Principle
- Chapter_04_General Relativity
- Chapter_05_Einstein’s Field Equations
- Chapter_06_The Schwarzschild Metric and Black Holes
- Chapter_07_Cosmological Metric and Friedmann’s Equations
- Chapter_08_Solutions of Friedmann’s Equations
- Chapter_09_Cosmological Constant and the Dark Universe
- Chapter_10_Cosmic Distances
- Chapter_11_Summary of the Foundations of Cosmology
- Chapter_12_Cosmic Inventory
- Chapter_13_Brief History of the Early Universe
- Chapter_14_Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
- Schedule
- Syllabus
- Python Codes.zip
- Solutions and Exercises
Senior undergraduate students majoring in physics, Professionals / researchers / academics applying relativity and cosmology principles in research and applied settings, who require an introduction or refresher to the subject, or study an adjacent field, like mathematics or engineering