Introduction to General Relativity (WS13/14)

Lecturers

J.Prof. Dr. Harald Ita and Dr. Christian Schwinn

Dates

• Lecture: 4 hours, Mon 8-10, Tue 14-16; Westbau 2nd floor, start: 21.10.2013 (Lecturer Harald Ita)
• Tutorial: 2 hours, Mon 14-16, Westbau 2nd floor ; start: 21.10.2013 (Tutor Christian Schwinn). 
  Please register for the tutorial on the campus management website of the lecture .

  (Registration starts on 21.10, 12.00. More information will be given in the first lecture.)

• Preliminary exam date: Mon 24.2.2014 at 9:00; please register.

Problem Sets for Tutorial

Please contact lecturer for exercise sheets. 

Content

• Special relativity and flat spacetime
• Curved spacetimes and their mathematical description (tensors, manifolds, curvature)
• Gravity and its physics in curved spacetimes
• Special solutions to Einstein's equations (Schwarzschild solution, cosmology)
• Perturbation theory and gravitational radiation 

For Bachelor-Students

 The lecture is suitable as supplementary or elective course; Wahlpflicht- bzw. Wahlbereich.

Prerequisits

Electrodynamics and Special Relativity

 Requirements for Academic Record

• active and regular participation in the tutorials, including solutions to 70% of the homework problems.
• in case an exam ( "Prüfungsleistung")  is required, a written/oral exam will be offered. Prerequisite is the successful participation in the tutorials.

Further details will be given in the lecture/tutorials.

Textbooks

• Weinberg: "Gravitation and Cosmology: Principles and Applications of the General Theory of Relativity"
• Sean M. Carroll: "Spacetime and Geometry" 
• R.U. Sexl / H.K. Urbantke: "Gravitation und Kosmologie"
• C.W. Misner / K.S. Thorne / J.A. Wheeler: "Gravitation"

 More advanced Textbooks

• H.J. Dirschmid: "Tensoren und Felder"
• R.M. Wald: "General Relativity"
• R.D. Feynman: "Feynman Lectures On Gravitation"
• Nakahara: "Geometry, Topology and Physics"

• source list + lecture notes: Prof. Mathias Blau (Univ. Bern)
• Prof. Sean Carroll (CalTech)