Product Description
Thinking outside the box (of Reality) can transform both the Physical Universe and Personal Identity.General relativity and quantum mechanics are two of the most successful scientific theories in existence. And, yet, general relativity and quantum mechanics conflict with each other in deep, fundamental ways in their descriptions of reality. Because of this, it has proven impossible to unify them into one single coherent description of our physical universe.Apart from this conflict-or perhaps because of it-they also possess an inherently fatal flaw: neither reality they describe ultimately makes any sense, within the context of personal identity."The Third Piece" describes the unification of general relativity and quantum mechanics conceptually, as they are, without the need for new mathematics or physics. What is needed is the third piece to the puzzle: Personal Identity. Including this piece and unifying all three pieces simultaneously results in a reality that makes sense for all three: physically, logically, conceptually, andphilosophically. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A concise, rigorous and fairly thorough exposition
The book divides into three parts.Part I develops the mathematical tools used in the general theory of relativity.This part is very short, but self-contained.Readers who have never studied differential geometry will find the exposition too abstract, in my view.I suggest the reader first study one of a number of good texts such as, W. Thirring: A course in Mathematical Physics, Vol 1 or R. Abraham and J.E. Marsden: Foundations of Mechanics.

In the second part, the general theory of relativity is developed along traditional lines.The coordinate-free language is emphasized.Full use of Cartan's calculus of differential forms is made.The tests of general relativity are discussed.

The last part of the book treats important aspects of the physics of compact objects.Some topics, for example the cooling of neutron stars, are discussed in great detail.

On the whole, the book is rigorous.May I emphasize, the reader need a good background in differential geometry. ... Read more

Product Description

This volume from the Einstein Studies Series is based largely on papers presented at the Sixth International Conference on the History of General Relativity, held in Amsterdam on June 26-29, 2002. These contributions from notable experts offer both new and historical insights on gravitation, general relativity, cosmology, unified field theory, and the history of science.

Topics discussed include the prehistory of special relativity, early attempts at a relativistic theory of gravitation, the beginnings of general relativity, the problem of motion in the context of relativity, conservation laws, the axiomatization of relativity, classical and contemporary cosmology, gravitation and electromagnetism, quantum gravity, and relativity as seen through the eyes of the public and renowned relativists.

Contributors: K. Brading; G. Gale; H.F.M. Goenner; J. Goldberg; S. Katzir; D. Kennefick; H. Kragh; C. Lehner; U. Majer; J. Mattingly; E.T. Newman; J.D. Norton; J. Renn; R. Rynasiewicz; J.M. Sánchez-Ron; T. Sauer; C. Smeenk; J. Stachel; M. Wazeck; and D. Wünsch.

Product Description

This book offers an alternative to other textbooks on the subject, providing a more specific discussion of numerous general relativistic effects for readers who have knowledge of classical mechanics and electrodynamics, including special relativity. Coverage includes in particular gravitational lensing, signal retardation in the gravitational field of the Sun, the Reissner-Nordström solution, selected spin effects, the resonance transformation of an electromagnetic wave into a gravitational one, and the entropy and temperature of black holes. The book includes numerous problems at various levels of difficulty, making it ideal also for independent study by a broad readership of advanced students and researchers.

I.B. Khriplovich is Chief Researcher, Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Novosibirsk, and Chair of Theoretical Physics at Novosibirsk University. Dr. Khriplovich is a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has been awarded the Dirac Medal ``For the advancement of theoretical physics'' by University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, and the Pomeranchuk Prize ``For outstanding contribution to the understanding the properties of the standard model, especially for illuminating work on weak and strong interactions of quarks'' by the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow, Russia.

Customer Reviews (1)

On Khriplovich's "General Relativty"
The book presents a concise course on theory of gravity. In spite of its limited size of only 116 pages, it covers the main theoretical notions and experimental phenomena. The author does it in a quite instructive way emphasizing underlying physics. Particularly impressive in this respect are chapters on observable effects, spin interaction, gravitational waves and black holes. The book's comparative analysis of radiation of gravitational waves by ultrarelativistic particles versus synchrotron radiation serves, in my view, as a best example.
I enthusiastically recommend the book, both to students who have just started studying the field as well as to established researchers. ... Read more

Product Description
Special relativity is one of the high points of the undergraduate mathematical physics syllabus. Nick Woodhouse writes for those approaching the subject with a background in mathematics. He aims to build on their familiarity with the foundational material and the way of thinking taught in first-year mathematics courses, but not to assume an unreasonable degree of prior knowledge of traditional areas of physical applied mathematics, particularly electromagnetic theory. His book provides mathematics students with the tools they need to understand the physical basis of special relativity and leaves them with a confident mathematical understanding of Minkowski's picture of space-time. SPECIAL RELATIVITY is loosely based on the tried and tested course at Oxford, where extensive tutorials and problem classes support the lecture course. This is reflected in the book in the large number of examples and exercises, ranging from the rather simple through to the more involved and challenging. The author has included material on acceleration and tensors, and has written the book with an emphasis on space-time diagrams. Written with the second year undergraduate in mind, the book will appeal to those studying the 'Special Relativity' option in their Mathematics or Mathematics and Physics course. However, a graduate or lecturer wanting a rapid introduction to special relativity would benefit from the concise and precise nature of the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A little mathematics goes a long way
This book requires only a working knowledge of linear algebra and multivariate calculus, and a basic understanding of classical mechanics and electromagnetism.

The author begins by providing a simple but general mathematical exposition of relative motion in classical mechanics. The next two chapters review Maxwell's equations and what they imply for the propagation of light. Having set the stage in this way, the axioms of Einstein's theory are introduced and their implications worked out mathematically, leading the reader to a clear understanding of Minkowski four-dimensional space time and the Lorentz transformation. The exposition is accompanied by a number of classic brainteasers in special relativity.

The weak spot (and hence only four stars) is the treatment of the mass-energy equivalence, which does not include a rigorous derivation of Einstein's famous formula E=mc^2, even though such a derivation is no more demanding mathematically or conceptually than the other issues discussed in the book.

In sum, this book should appeal to any mathematically literate non-physicist who wants more than just a superficial introduction of Einstein's special relativity.
... Read more

Product Description
A note from the 1920 publication:
Whether it is true or not that not more than twelve persons in all the world are able to understand Einstein's Theory, it is nevertheless a fact that there is a constant demand for information about this much-debated topic of relativity. The books published on the subject are so technical that only a person trained in pure physics and higher mathematics is able to fully understand them. In order to make a popular explanation of this far-reaching theory available, the present book is published.
Professor Lorentz is credited by Einstein with sharing the development of his theory. He is doubtless better able than any other man—except the author himself—to explain this scientific discovery.

This version includes a working Table of Contents for easy navigation ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Poorly written, and suffers as a result.
This text was clearly written in an era when over wording or complex wording was apparently accepted as the norm.It's brief, and difficult to understand, but not because it needed to be that way.The author clearly doesn't know how to make his understanding comprehendable to the average reader.And the only thing I took away from the reading experience was that light can be manipulated by gravity.WooHoo, tell me something that I couldn't have learned from a cheesy sci-fi movie.

The author refers to space as "ether", in an attempt to explain what it is that the earth and other planetary bodies are moving through.In a more modern age, the idea doesn't make sense because space is empty, and Einstein being the genius he was didn't attempted to account for the "ether" while working on his theory.Lest we enter into a conversation about dark matter which is still a theoretical concept.Dark matter is believed to consume space in solar systems (which we've observed) that are too small to actually be a solar system.The idea being that dark matter while being completely invisible adds mass to these solar systems and thus keeps the planets in that system from flying out.So I suppose one could say that "ether" could be referring to an early concept of dark matter.But again, existence of dark matter is still unproven, and it makes me wonder if the astrophysicists who are observing these solar systems are accounting for the distance.After all, just because a solar system appears stable to an observer on earth, it could actually be far from the truth.Since the distance light travels to reach us is only a reflection of a past event, we cannot assume that what we observe through telescopes is representative of what's actually taking place in these distant solar systems.

Long story short, I think I'll check out the Wikipedia page on Einstein's Theory of Relativity.I'm sure it's somewhat comprehendable.Though to be fair, if it's written like the entry on Schrödinger's cat, I'll probably be just as lost.

Good Entry Point
This book is a nice, quick entry point for people looking to learn about Einstein's famous theory.

That being said, this should not be the only source of info you use to learn about the subject. As previously mentioned, this article is about 90 years old so there is newer material to be read. That being said I never see anything wrong with starting from the beginning and working your way forward.

Good Entry-Point Reading
This very short book is sort of an abstract on Einstein's Theory of Relativity.Whether you're familiar, and especially if you are, about Physics and Nature's Laws of Motion, Gravity, etc...this is a worthwhile read for getting to know Einstein's theory as written by a friend physicist.It describes Einstein's theory and quashes your curiosity on the subject matter.

Short and concise, I picked up a few concepts that I was not truly aware of since grade school or high school...when I was actually enrolled in a science class.For instance, I always thought space is enveloped in a vacuum...meaning no air or nothing at all.It was not after reading this book that I was made re-aware of the gas ether as "light's medium"...or what the upper atmosphere consists of, hence the word ethereal (`not of this world).

Read further and you actually grasp the essence of the theory, said in the simplest possible way from a physicist's point of view.Right now though, I'd like to read more on the subject matter at hand...or perhaps more on Einstein himself.This is just good entry-point reading.

wow
I have alway love the theory of relativity. This is the basic from and really want to read more on the subject.A must read or at lest know of the theory. ... Read more

Product Description
This book introduces the modern field of 3+1 numerical relativity. The book has been written in a way as to be as self-contained as possible, and only assumes a basic knowledge of special relativity. Starting from a brief introduction to general relativity, it discusses the different concepts and tools necessary for the fully consistent numerical simulation of relativistic astrophysical systems, with strong and dynamical gravitational fields. Among the topics discussed in detail are the following; the initial data problem, hyperbolic reductions of the field equations, guage conditions, the evolution of black hole space-times, relativistic hydrodynamics, gravitational wave extraction and numerical methods. There is also a final chapter with examples of some simple numerical space-times. The book is aimed at both graduate students and researchers in physics and astrophysics, and at those interested in relativistic astrophysics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

nice!
This is an excellent graduate level textbook on numerical (classical) gravity dynamics. Its main features are clarity and pedagogy.

The author starts with a review of general relativity. Although he says
this is not intended to be a substitute for a full course on the subject,
I found that in this chapter his exposition is more clear, motivated
and pedagogical than many other more specifically targeted books I know.
His text is structured, from simpler to more advanced concepts and
has a smooth transition from geometry to physics. Definitely recommended
reading.

Subsequently, he commits himself to 3+1 formalism which is the most practical choice
once one decides to abandon the natural, timeless formulation of the theory. He covers,
all important points: initial data, gauge conditions, particle systems
(black holes) and continuum systems (fluids). The author managed to
condense all practically needed knowledge in a relatively small book quite
successfully.

Extra-information is also available on numerical analysis of conservation
laws in the framework of powerful high resolution schemes that where originally
developed in non-relativistic high speed flow and found nice applications in gravodynamics.

Overall, the book is an excellent place to start Numerical Gravity
studies. ... Read more

Product Description
This monograph examines the global aspects of the problem of evolution equations in general relativity. Central to the work is a revisit of the proof of the global stability of Minkowski space, as presented by Christodoulou and Klainerman (1993). This book focuses on a new self- contained proof of the main part of that result which concerns the full solution of the radiation problem in vacuum for arbitrary asymptotic flat initial data sets. While technical motivation is clearly and systematically provided for this proof, many important related concepts and results, some well established, others new, unfold along the way.A comprehensive bibliography and index complete this important monograph, aimed at researchers and graduate students in mathematics, mathematical physics, and physics working in the area of general relativity. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Publisher: London, Macmillan and co., limited; Publication date: 1920; Subjects: Relativity (Physics); ... Read more

Product Description
This volume contains the proceedings of the twelfth triannual International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation, the premier conference for presentation and discussion of new ideas in relativity and cosmology.The volume will contain the invited talks as well as short reports on the parallel workshops that took place at the meeting.It will be essential reading for all research workers in relativity, cosmology and astrophysics. ... Read more

Product Description
Introduction Outline Part I. Background from the theory of partial differential equations: Functional analysis The Fourier transform Sobolev spaces Sobolev embedding Symmetric hyperbolic systems Linear wave equations Local existence, non-linear wave equations Part II. Background in geometry, global hyperbolicity and uniqueness: Basic Lorentz geometry Characterizations of global hyperbolicity Uniqueness of solutions to linear wave equations Part III. General relativity: The constraint equations Local existence Cauchy stability Existence of a maximal globally hyperbolic development Part IV. Pathologies, strong cosmic censorship: Preliminaries Constant mean curvature Initial data Einstein's vacuum equations Closed universe recollapse Asymptotic behaviour LRS Bianchi class A solutions Existence of extensions Existence of inequivalent extensions Appendices Bibliography Index ... Read more

Product Description
This is a text on classical general relativity from a geometrical viewpoint. Introductory chapters are provided on algebra, topology and manifold theory, together with a chapter on the basic ideas of space-time manifolds and Einstein's theory. There is a detailed account of algebraic structures and tensor classification in general relativity and also of the relationships between the metric, connection and curvature structures on space-times. The latter includes chapters on holonomy and sectional curvature. An extensive study is presented of symmetries in general relativity, including isometries, homotheties, conformal symmetries and affine, projective and curvature collineations. Several general properties of such symmetries are studied and a preparatory section on transformation groups and on the properties of Lie algebras of vector fields on manifolds is provided. ... Read more

Product Description

This excellent textbook offers a unique take on relativity theory, setting it in its historical context. Ideal for those interested in relativity and the history of physics, the book contains a complete account of special relativity that begins with the historical analysis of the reasons that led to a change in our view of space and time. Its aim is to foster a deep understanding of relativistic spacetime and its consequences for Dynamics.

Product Description
This book is intended for students interested in the applications of general relativity in astrophysics and cosmology but who would like to avoid mathematical complications. This volume thus combines relativity, astrophysics, and cosmology in a single volume. It provides an introduction to the subject that will enable students to consult more detailed treatises as well as the current literature. For prospective researchers in these fields, the book includes an appendix on differential forms, and an extensive, though not exhaustive list of references. The book is divided into three parts. The section on general relativity gives the case for a curved space-time, presents the mathematical background (tensor calculus, Riemannian geometry), discusses the Einstein equation and its solutions (including black holes, Penrose processes, and similar topics), and considers the energy-momentum tensor for various solutions. The section on relativistic astrophysics discusses stellar contraction and collapse, neutron stars and their equations of state, black holes, and accretion onto collapsed objects. The section on cosmology discusses various cosmological models, observational tests, and scenarios for the early universe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Who is this book for?
For whom was this book written? If you don't know tensor analysis, GR and the rest of that stuff you're sure not going to learn it here. If you do know tensor analysis and the other stuff why are you reading this book? ... Read more

Product Description
This book is about the mathematical theory of light propagation in media on general-relativistic spacetimes. The first part discusses the transition from Maxwell's equations to ray optics. The second part establishes a general mathematical framework for treating ray optics as a theory in its own right, making extensive use of the Hamiltonian formalism. This part also includes a detailed discussion of variational principles (i.e., various versions of Fermat's principle) for light rays in general-relativistic media. Some applications, e.g. to gravitational lensing, are worked out. The reader is assumed to have some basic knowledge of general relativity and some familiarity with differential geometry. Some of the results are published here for the first time, e.g. a general-relativistic version of Fermat's principle for light rays in a medium that has to satisfy some regularity condition only. ... Read more

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All papers were peer reviewed. Research advances in gravitation and general relativity are discussed, ranging from classical to quantum theories of gravity. Relativistic theories have become the basic model for new research fields encompassing importantexperiments and observations which represent a frontier on which Einstein's theory of gravity can be tested. This will provide some new insight into the field of gravitational physics. The proceedings will be a valuable source for advanced graduate students and research workers at all levels.