A First Course in General Relativity 2nd Edition by Bernard Schutz (PDF)

Description

Clarity, readability and rigor combine in the second edition of this widely-used textbook to provide the first step into general relativity for undergraduate students with a minimal background in mathematics. Topics within relativity that fascinate astrophysical researchers and students alike are covered with Schutz’s characteristic ease and authority – from black holes to gravitational lenses, from pulsars to the study of the Universe as a whole. This edition now contains discoveries by astronomers that require general relativity for their explanation; a revised chapter on relativistic stars, including new information on pulsars; an entirely rewritten chapter on cosmology; and an extended, comprehensive treatment of modern detectors and expected sources. Over 300 exercises, many new to this edition, give students the confidence to work with general relativity and the necessary mathematics, whilst the informal writing style makes the subject matter easily accessible. Selected solutions for instructors are available under Resources.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I am studying myself the General Relativity. I do not like that a lot of Equations in book do not have proof.They are only in some Exercises. I studied a lot of math books and always all equations have proof.May be this book is good for students: they can always ask the Teacher if something is not clear. But per person studying without Teacher sometimes very hard to understand where the Equations are from. I spent a lot of time to read different books to figure out proof. For me was very useful book of Robert B. Scott “A Student Manual for A First Course in GENERAL RELATIVITY.Thank you,Aleksandr

⭐This book is spot on perfect for a “first course” in general relativity (for an advanced undergraduate or graduate physics student). It does an excellent job of covering the basics in a comprehensive manner such that any advanced text or research paper should then be readable. Just be sure to read through the problem sections as thoroughly as the text, since they cover a lot of important material that would have made the text sections too cumbersome if included there (a lot of “Track 2” material is covered in the problems). Of course, additionally working several problems for each chapter is a must, because as usual, working problems is required to truly cement an understanding of any physics subject.The book does an excellent job of blending both the “geometric” approach and the “component notation” approach to GR. Both are required for a comprehensive understanding of the subject, and Schutz adeptly explains and utilizes the relationships between both approaches while going through the material. Use of the equivalence principle is “sacrosanct” for a solid physical understanding of how gravitation works, as well as providing the “most straightforward” means of extending tensor formulation in special relativity (which Schutz presents in depth) to tensor formulation in curved spaces. Schutz does a beautiful job of utilizing the equivalence principle on both counts.Of course, further reading will be required for a “complete education” in GR. The best understanding of how gravitation is “built” around use of the equivalence principle is Weinberg’s book, as the book is indeed designed to demonstrate this. Weinberg’s book may be the best “first book” for students requiring a solid “physical” approach to the subject (that’s what worked for me, as opposed to the “pure geometry” approach favored by the math twits, hehe). MTW is the required “encyclopedic reference” that any practitioner in GR utilizes as an initial “look up” on anything, but it’s way too “jumbled” to initially learn from it. Wald is a comprehensive textbook that covers the more advanced mathematical material and techniques required for practical GR based evaluation of most gravitational systems studied, but is not usually recommended as a “first course” on the subject (though it starts “from scratch”). Finally, any theorist attempting to develop new gravitational theory, will be “hamstrung” without first reading Will’s book on experimental gravitation, which thoroughly presents the “theory of gravitational theories” (developed by the experimental gravitation community) by which any theory is ultimately judged (including GR). So all of these are required for an actual practitioner, but Schutz is the best comprehensive “first course” presenting an “even handed” approach to the subject.

⭐When I was in school studying for my doctorate in physics GR was never taught, so in retirement I decided to try to understand it and in particular what it has to say about the behavior of photons. This book was a big disappointment. He spends no time on the details of geodesics and nowhere addresses the measurement of the absolute velocity of light in the context of general relativity, which would have been helpful, and far too much (in my opinion) on gravitational waves, cosmology and related shiny topics.More importantly, when you discover a serious flaw in a textbook it has the effect of raising doubts about its reliability in other areas. In 10.8 and 10.9 the author ties himself in knots arguing that the energy of a photon is a constant of the motion and at the same time that it is not. It is. This is part of a tortuous explanation of the gravitational redshift. He does not seem to grasp that a photon wave packet when stretched in time changes its frequency but not its total energy, and that the mechanism of gravitational time dilation does precisely that. If the one exists so does the other. Such pulse stretching and pulse compression is commonplace in optical and radar laboratories. Part of his error is in trying to introduce a quantum view where it won’t fit.He also attaches problems for the student ad nauseam, without so much as a hint to the answers (which are not included). Why not?There are many excellent works on GR available free on the internet. I recommend in particular those from the Physics Labs at the University of Rome (INFN Roma). I think the cost of Schutz’s book was money that could have been better spent.

⭐This is a detailed and thorough course in general relativity, but if you haven’t been exposed to this topic before be aware that it is a long, complex and difficult path. It is essential to complete at least most of the many exercises, which are carefully designed to ensure you really have understood the preceding material, which is complete but often very concise.

⭐Need patient application and good maths background to properly appreciate this book

⭐O livro em si é muito bom como uma introdução à Relatividade Geral, cobrindo inclusive Relatividade Restrita. Pode ser uma questão de gosto, mas alguns aspectos da notação escolhida pelo autor para algumas coisas me desagrada como, por exemplo, a insistência em colocar linhas nos índices e não nos objetos ou ainda o uso de vírgulas e/ou ponto-e-vírgula para representar derivadas ordinárias e/ou covariantes. Por outro lado, nota-se uma preocupação em explicar detalhes que outros livros passam por cima e também é evitada a abstração matemática excessiva (que alguns livros mais avançados às vezes usam sem trazer uma conexão próxima com as explicações físicas). Nesse sentido, a experiência geral com o livro foi bastante positiva.This text is aimed at advanced undergraduate level but covers the basis of what you learn at graduate level. I am currently studying graduate coursework and this has been helpful in understanding the core ideas. It’s exercises are fairly easy in comparison to what you would do but there are some worthwhile questions to check your understanding.If you are an advanced undergraduate and learning GR from a geometric perspective, this text would be very handy. Especially paired with a text like David Morin’s Introduction to classical mechanics which has a small section on GR that may help bridge that step.If you are at a graduate level, I recommend reading this book with other advanced texts such as MTW’s Gravitation or Sean Carroll’s Spacetime and Geometry: An introduction to General Relativity.

⭐Ich persönlich habe ART aus drei Büchern gelernt:- Sean Carroll, d’Inverno und eben Bernard Schutz Buch. Die drei ergänzen sich hervorragend. Das Buch von Carroll geht relativ flott voran, erreicht eine große Tiefe. Ist sehr spannend geschrieben und ein meiner Lieblingsbücher. Das Buch von Schutz hat mir am Anfang mäßig gut gefallen. Es war -nachdem ich Carroll gelesen habe- eher langweilig. Aber je weiter man vorankommt, desto mehr schätzt man das Buch. Es werden nicht so viele Themen wie in den anderen Themen angesprochen, diese werden aber langsamer Erklärt und auch mit größerer Tiefe. Viele Beispiele an scheinbar bereits bekannten (wie Polarkoordinaten) Themen machen deutlich, was die Konzepte der Differentialgeometrie bedeuten. Schutz hat z.B. ein Kapitel zu Staub und perfekten Flüssigkeiten in der SRT!Also klare Empfehlung von mir.

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