Physics 564: Relativity & Cosmology

Prerequisites: Physics 425, 426 or equivalent or consent of instructor
To be taught, Spring 2008; offered alternate years

General relativity with application to cosmology. Basic principles of relativity. Aplications to orbits, gravitational radiation and black holes. Relativistic cosmography and cosmology. The early universe, galaxy formation, and active galaxies.

Texts: Gravitation and Spacetime , Ohanian & Ruffini; and Fundamentals of Cosmology, by Rich. In addition, supplementary notes will occasionally be posted on this site.

Course outline

Topic 0: Where does GRel matter?

black holes, gravitational waves ..

dark matter, dark energy ...

the history & future of it all ....

Topic 1: Review of Special Relativity

vectors, tensors, Lorentz transforms

energy-momentum tensor

electrodynamics

Topic 2: Weak Field Equations

The EM analogy

The gravitational equations

Equations of motion

Supplementary notes 1, ps ; pdf

Topic 3: Tests and effects of Relativity

Weak field of a point mass

Most of The Usual Tests

Lines-Thirring effect

Topic 4: Gravitational Waves

The wave solutions

Quadropole wave emission

Topic 5: Curvature: Mathematical Tools

First part

Second part

Third part

Topic 6: Einstein's field equations

The answer . . .

Topic 7: Black Holes

Schwarzchild metric

Kerr metric

black hole thermodynamics

Supplementary notes 2, ps ; pdf

Topic 8: Cosmology and Cosmography

Robertson-Walker metric

Measuring the universe

Inflation

Supplementary notes 3 ps ; pdf

Topic 9: The Early Universe

The standard history

High redshift objects

Courses