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General Relativity (Summer 2019)
Contents
Course description
This is an introductory course on the mathematics of special and general relativity. The course is taught by Prof. Karsten Große Brauckmann, and I am responsible for the exercise sessions. Both the lectures and exercise sessions are in English.
Contents will include:
- Special relativity and setup for general relativity
- Einstein equations
- Special solutions and blackholes: Schwarzschild, Kerr, etc.
- Further topics: cosmology, gravitational waves...
Prerequisites
- Differentiable manifolds
- Semi-Riemannian metrics
- Levi-Civita connection
- Geodesics and exponential map
- Curvature (Riemann, Ricci, scalar) and geodesics
References
The main reference we will use is Semi-Riemannian Geometry With Applications to Relativity by Barret O'Neill.
Other references include:
Physics books:
- General Relativity by Straumann
- Introducing Einstein's Relativity by d'Inverno
Classical physics texts:
- Gravitation by Misner, Thorne, Wheeler
- The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time by Hawking, Ellis
Math books:
- Differentialgeometrie by Kühnel
- Einstein manifolds by Besse
Exam
Refer to the information sheet on Tucan.
Class time and location & Office hours
Lectures: Fridays 15:20-17:00, room ?
Exercise sessions: Tuesdays 15:20-17:00 (every other week), room S15|301
Office hours: By appointment
NB: Refer to the course schedule below for the precise dates.
Exercise sheets
Click on the exercise sheets below to view or download.
Course schedule
NB: The course schedule below is subject to updates.
| Date | Subject | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 16.04.2019 | Lecture #1 | |
| Tuesday 23.04.2019 | Review session | (exceptional) |
| Friday 26.04.2019 | Lecture #2 | |
| Tuesday 30.04.2019 | Exercise session #1 | |
| Friday 03.05.2019 | Lecture #3 | |
| Friday 10.05.2019 | Lecture #4 | |
| Tuesday 14.05.2019 | Exercise session #2 | |
| Friday 17.05.2019 | Lecture #5 | |
| Friday 24.05.2019 | Lecture #6 | |
| Tuesday 28.05.2019 | Exercise session #3 | |
| Friday 31.05.2019 | Lecture #7 | |
| Friday 07.06.2019 | Lecture #8 | Cancelled! |
| Friday 14.06.2019 | Lecture #9 | |
| Friday 21.06.2019 | Lecture #10 | |
| Tuesday 25.06.2019 | Exercise session #4 | |
| Friday 28.06.2019 | Lecture #11 | |
| Friday 05.07.2019 | Lecture #12 | |
| Tuesday 09.07.2019 | Exercise session #5 | |
| Friday 12.07.2019 | Lecture #13 | |
| Tuesday 16.07.2019 |
Exercise session #6 |
|
| Friday 19.07.2019 | Lecture #14 |