This work is a short textbook on general relativity and gravitation, aimed at readers with a broad range of interests in physics, from cosmology to gravitational radiation to high energy physics to condensed matter theory. It is an introductory text, but it has also been written as a jumping-off point for readers who plan to study more specialized topics. As a textbook, it is designed to be usable in a one-quarter course (about 25 hours of instruction), and should be suitable for both graduate students and advanced undergraduates. The pedagogical approach is “physics first”: readers move very quickly to the calculation of observational predictions, and only return to the mathematical foundations after the physics is established. The book is mathematically correct—even nonspecialists need to know some differential geometry to be able to read papers—but informal. In addition to the “standard” topics covered by most introductory textbooks, it contains short introductions to more advanced topics: for instance, why field equations are second order, how to treat gravitational energy, what is required for a Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity. A concluding chapter discusses directions for further study, from mathematical relativity to experimental tests to quantum gravity.
Deformations of the Constraint Algebra of Ashtekar’s Hamiltonian Formulation of General Relativity
