402-0830-00L  General Relativity

SemesterAutumn Semester 2018
LecturersR. Renner
Periodicityyearly recurring course
Language of instructionEnglish


AbstractManifold, Riemannian metric, connection, curvature; Special Relativity; Lorentzian metric; Equivalence principle; Tidal force and spacetime curvature; Energy-momentum tensor, field equations, Newtonian limit; Post-Newtonian approximation; Schwarzschild solution; Mercury's perihelion precession, light deflection.
ObjectiveBasic understanding of general relativity, its mathematical foundations, and some of the interesting phenomena it predicts.
LiteratureSuggested textbooks:

C. Misner, K, Thorne and J. Wheeler: Gravitation
S. Carroll - Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General
Relativity
R. Wald - General Relativity
S. Weinberg - Gravitation and Cosmology
N. Straumann - General Relativity with applications to Astrophysics