FY3452 Gravitation and Cosmology
Våren 2009
Lecturer:
Michael Kachelrieß,
office: E5-149
Description:
The course gives a general introduction to classical field theory,
special and general relativity including applications, in particular
cosmology.
The course is aimed at physics students in the 3.nd/4.th year.
Lectures: Tuesday 10.15-12.00 R60, starting from week 3
Lectures: Thursday 12.15-14.00 R73
Exercises are not mandatory, but an integral part of the course.
Recommended books:
Books covering the "pensum":
1. J. B. Hartle. Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity
(Benjamin Cummings), ISBN-10: 0805386629.
2. Lecture notes "Klassisk feltteori" by Jan Myrheim (can be bought at the
'espedisjon' for NOK 100).
Additional lecture notes will be distributed, should we make some small
digressions not covered by 1. and 2.
Alternative literature (useful for a deeper math. background) from the net:
1. Carroll, Sean M.: Lecture Notes on General Relativity. arXiv:gr-qc/9712019 v1 3 Dec 1997.
2. Waner, Stefan: Introduction to Differential Geometry and General Relativity.
Check out also the library for books you like: For instance, look for
- Hobson, M.P., Efstathiou, G.P., Lasenby, A.N.:
General relativity: an introduction for physicists.
Cambridge University Press 2006. [On a somehat higher level than Hartle.]
-
Robert M. Wald: General Relativity. University of Chicago Press 1986.
[Uses a modern mathematical language]
- Landau, Lev D.; Lifshitz, Evgenij M.: Course of theoretical physics 2 - The classical theory of fields. Pergamon Press Oxford, 1975.
- Misner, Charles W.; Thorne, Kip S.; Wheeler, John A.: Gravitation. Freeman New York, 1998.
[Entertaining and nice description of differential geometry.]
- Schutz, Bernard F.: A first course in general relativity. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004.
- Stephani, Hans: Relativity: an introduction to special and general relativity. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004.
- Weinberg, Steven: Gravitation and cosmology. Wiley New York, 1972.
[A classics. Many applications; outdated concerning cosmology.]
- Weyl, Hermann: Raum, Zeit, Materie. Springer Berlin, 1918 (Space, Time, Matter, Dover New York, 1952).
[The classics.]
Reference group:
Stine Skarshaug:
stines@stud.ntnu.no
Ingvild Olsen Lundanes:
lundanes@stud.ntnu.no
Program: (numbers refer to
the corresponding chapters in Hartle's book or Myrheim's compendium)
Week 3: Special relativity [H4, H5] notes.
Week 4: Classical mechanics. Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulation [M4]
notes.
Week 5: Classical field theory [M6-M8]
notes.
Week 6: Differential geometry [H7, H8, H20]
notes.
Week 7: Schwarzschild solution [H9]
notes.
Week 8: Gravitational lensing, black holes [H10, H11.1, H12, H15]
notes.
Week 9: Curvature, Einstein equations [H21, H22]
notes.
Week 10: Linearized gravity, gravitational waves [H21, H23]
notes.
Week 11: Exercise week, no lectures.
Week 12: Gravitational waves [H16, H23]
Week 13: Cosmology: FRW models [H18]
notes.
Week 14: FRW models, BBN [H18]
notes.
Week 15: Easter holidays (some exercises: 7.9, 7.14, 9.8, 9.11, 12.5, 12.8, 15.11, 15.13, 18.8)
Week 16: (only Thu.) Thermal relics notes. An article from Aftenposten: "Mystisk objekt strålebomber oss".
Week 17: Inflation [notes]
Week 18: Structure formation [notes] (more exercises: 18.3, 18.11, 23.17)
Week 19: (only Tue.) Repetition & open questions
Solutions to selected exercises from
Hartle's book:
chapter 4.
chapter 5.
chapter 7.
chapter 8.
chapter 9.
chapter 12.
7.9,
7.14,
9.8,
9.11,
12.5a,
12.5b,
15.11,
15.13,
18.8,
E. Wright's cosmology calculator:
here.
Some original works (on the
level of these lectures)
J. Bekenstein: Black holes and entropy.
J. Bekenstein: Black holes
and information theory.
A. Friedmann:
Über die Krümmung des Raumes.
Last up-date: 19. Apr. 2009