Bernard SchutzCambridge University PressEdition: 2, 5/14/2009EAN 9780521887052, ISBN10: 0521887054Hardcover, 406 pages, 25.2 x 19.5 x 2 cmLanguage: EnglishClarity, readability and rigor combine in the second edition of this widely-used textbook to provide the first step into general relativity for undergraduate students with a minimal background in mathematics. Topics within relativity that fascinate astrophysical researchers and students alike are covered with Schutz's characteristic ease and authority - from black holes to gravitational lenses, from pulsars to the study of the Universe as a whole. This edition now contains discoveries by astronomers that require general relativity for their explanation; a revised chapter on relativistic stars, including new information on pulsars; an entirely rewritten chapter on cosmology; and an extended, comprehensive treatment of modern detectors and expected sources. Over 300 exercises, many new to this edition, give students the confidence to work with general relativity and the necessary mathematics, whilst the informal writing style makes the subject matter easily accessible. Selected solutions for instructors are available under Resources.Preface1. Fundamental principles of special relativity2. Vector analysis in special relativity3. Tensor analysis in special relativity4. Perfect fluids in special relativity5. Preface to curvature6. Curved manifolds7. Physics in a curved spacetime8. The Einstein field equations9. Gravitational radiation10. Spherical solutions for stars11. Schwarzschild geometry and black holes12. CosmologyReferencesIndex.'Bernard Schutz's textbook A First Course in General Relativity quickly became a classic, notable for its use of the geometrical approach to the subject, combined with a refreshing succinctness. Since its first publication in 1985, the field of general relativity has exploded, with new discoveries in astrophysics and cosmology, and with the successful operation of laser interferometric gravitational-wave antennae. Schutz has done a masterful job of incorporating these new developments into a revised edition, which is sure to become a new 'classic'. I look forward to teaching out of the second edition of First Course.' Clifford M. Will, McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University, St Louis
