本书简明扼要地介绍了狭义相对论和广义相对论。本书可以让学生从狭义相对论的基础一直学到广义相对论的核心内容，还论述了爱因斯坦方程以及弯曲时空中粒子和光的运动方程。为了方便没有受过相对论或几何训练的理工科学生接触到狭义相对论和广义相对论的主题，本书还从头开始介绍了相关的几何概念，具体包括微分几何、协变量导数、克里斯托弗尔符号、张量和克里斯托弗尔符号的变换等。本书共9章，前三章可以作为学习狭义相对论时的参考资料，后六章更偏重于讨论偏微分方程和电动力学的相关知识。本书适合高等院校师生研读。

Preface
Author biography
1 Why relativity?
1.1 The Galilei invariance of Newtonian mechanics
1.2 The need for spe relativity
1.3 The need for general relativity
2 A first look at notions from geometry
2.1 Vectors and tensors
2.2 Curvilinear coordinates
3 The tangents of spacetime: spe relativity
3.1 Lorentz transformations and the relativity of space and time
3.2 Consequences of Lorentz symmetry
3.3 The general Lorentz transformation
4 Relativistic dynamics
4.1 Energy-momentum vectors and the relativistic Newton equation
4.2 The manifestly covariant formulation of electrodynamics
4.3 Action principles for relativistic particles
4.4 Current densities and stress-energy tensors
5 Differential geometry: the kinematics of curved spacetime
5.1 More geometry: surfaces in R3
5.2 Covariant derivatives and Christoffel symbols
5.3 Transformations of tensors and Christoffel symbols
6 Particles in curved spacetime
6.1 Motion of a particle in spacetime
6.2 Slow particles in a weak gravitational field
6.3 Local inertial frames
6.4 Symmetric spaces and conservation laws
7 The dynamics of spacetime: the Einstein equation
7.1 Geodesic deviation and curvature
7.2 The Einstein equation
7.3 The Schwarzschild metric: The gravitational field outside a
non-rotating star
7 4 The interior of Schwarzschild black holes
7.5 Maximal extension of the Schwarzschild spacetime and wormholes
8 Massive particles in the Schwarzschild spacetime
8.1 Massive particles in t-independent radially sym metric spacetimes
8.2 Radial motion in terms of the effective potential
8.3 The shape of the trajectory
8.4 Clocks in the Schwarzschild spacetime
8.5 Escape velocities and infall times
9 Massless particles in the Schwarzschild spacetime
9.1 Equations of motion
9.2 Deflection of light in a gravitational field
9.3 Apparent photon speeds and radial infall
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