Einstein's relativistic theory of gravitation--general relativity--will shortly be a century old. At its core is one of the most beautiful and revolutionary conceptions of modem science--the idea that gravity is the geometry of four-dimensional curved spacetime. Together with quantum theory, general relativity is one of the two most profound developments of twentieth-century physics.
Preface
PART Ⅰ SPACE AND TIME IN NEWTONIAN PHYSICS AND SPECIAL RELATIVITY
1 Gravitational Physics
2 Geometry as Physics
2.1 Gravity Is Geometry
2.2 Experiments in Geometry
2.3 Different Geometries
2.4 Specifying Geometry
2.5 Coordinates and Line Element
2.6 Coordinates and Invariance
3 Space, lime, and Gravity in Newtonian Physics
3.1 Inertial Frames
3.2 The Principle of Relativity
3.3 Newtonian Gravity
3.4 Gravitational and Inertial Mass
3.5 Variational Principle for Newtonian Mechanics
4 Principles of Special Relativity
5 Special Relativistic Mechanics
PART Ⅱ THE CURVED SPACETIMES OF GENERAL RELATIVITY
6 Gravity as Geometry
7 The Description of Curved Spacetime
8 Geodesics
9 The Geometry Outside a Spherical Star
10 Solar System Tests of General Relativity
11 Relativistic Gravity in Action
12 Gravitational Collapse and Black Holes
13 Astrophysical Black Holes
14 A Little Rotation
15 Rotating Black Holes
16 Gravitational Waves
17 The Universe Observed
18 Cosmological Models
19 Which Universe and Why?
PART Ⅲ THE EINSTEIN EQUATION
20 A Little More Math
21 Curvature and the Einstein Equation
22 The Source of Curvature
23 Gravitational Wave Emission
24 Relativistic Stars
APPENDIXES