Beschreibung:
Maurizio Gasperini is Professorof Theoretical Physics at the Physics Department of the University of Bari,Italy. He has already published six books with Springer and is the author ofmore than 200 publications on gravitational theory, high-energy physics, andcosmology. He has twice won an "Award for Essays on Gravitation" fromthe Gravity Research Foundation (1996 and 1998). His former posts include apermanent position in the Department of Theoretical Physics at the Universityof Turin and three appointments as Scientific Associate at CERN, TheoryDivision (1993, 1996, and 2005). Here, in collaboration with GabrieleVeneziano, he formulated and developed an early-cosmology scenario based on thesymmetries of string theory.
This is the second edition of a well-received book that is a modern, self-contained introduction to the theory of gravitational interactions. The new edition includes more details on gravitational waves of cosmological origin, the so-called brane world scenario, and gravitational time-delay effects.The first part of the book follows the traditional presentation ofgeneral relativity as a geometric theory of the macroscopic gravitationalfield, while the second, more advanced part discusses the deep analogies (anddifferences) between a geometric theory of gravity and the gauge theories ofthe other fundamental interactions. This fills a gap within the traditionalapproach to general relativity which usually leaves students puzzled about therole of gravity. The required notions of differential geometry are reduced tothe minimum, allowing room for aspects of gravitational physics of currentphenomenological and theoretical interest, such as the properties ofgravitational waves, the gravitational interactions of spinors, and thesupersymmetric and higher-dimensional generalization of the Einstein equations. This textbook is primarily intended for students pursuing a theoretical or astroparticle curriculum but is also relevant for PhD students and young researchers.
This up-to-date, self-contained review of the theory of gravitational interactions presents a traditional introduction, then discuss analogies and differences between a geometric theory of gravity and the gauge theories of the other fundamental interactions.
Includes all the information on gravitational
ElementaryNotions of Relativistic Field Theory.- Towards a Relativistic Theory ofGravity.- Tensor Calculus in a Riemann Manifold.- Maxwell Equations and RiemannGeometry.- Test Bodies and Signals in a Riemann Space-Time.- Geodesic Deviationand Curvature Tensor.- The Einstein Equations for the Gravitational Field.- TheWeak-Field Approximation.- Gravitational Waves.- The Schwarzschild Solution.The Kasner Solution.- Vierbeins and Lorentz Connection.- The Dirac Equation ina Gravitational Field.- Supersymmetry and Supergravity.- Appendix A TheLanguage of Differential Forms.- Appendix B Higher-Dimensional Gravity.- References.Index.
