General Relativity : With Applications to Astrophysics

"General Relativity" is a complete revision and extension of Straumann's well-known classic textbook "General Relativity and Relativistic Astrophysics." It is intended for physics and mathematics students eager to become acquainted with the foundations of general relativity and its major applications in astrophysics and cosmology. The foundations are thoroughly developed together with the required mathematical background from differential geometry developed in Part III. The author also discusses the tests of general relativity in detail, plus he includes the latest findings on supermassive black holes and the first double-pulsar system. Much space is devoted to the study of compact objects, especially to neutron stars and to the basic laws of black-hole physics. This well-structured text and reference enables readers to easily navigate through the various sections as best matches their backgrounds and perspectives, whether mathematical, physical or astronomical.

This text provides a comprehensive and timely introduction to general relativity. The foundations of the theory in Part I are thoroughly developed together with the required mathematical background from differential geometry in Part III. The six chapters in Part II are devoted to tests of general relativity and to many of its applications. Binary pulsars are studied in considerable detail. Much space is devoted to the study of compact objects, especially to black holes. This includes a detailed derivation of the Kerr solution, Israel's proof of his uniqueness theorem, and derivations of the basic laws of black hole physics. The final chapter of this part contains Witten's proof of the positive energy theorem.

The book addresses undergraduate and graduate students in physics, astrophysics and mathematics. It is very well structured and should become a standard text for a modern treatment of gravitational physics. The clear presentation of differential geometry makes it also useful for string theory and other fields of physics, classical as well as quantum.