Gravitation and Cosmology: Principles and Applications of the General Theory of Relativity 1st Edition by Steven Weinberg (PDF)

Description

A leading physicist delves into relativity and experimental applicationsGravitation and Cosmology: Principles and Applications of the General Theory of Relativity offers a Nobel laureate’s perspectives on the wealth of data technological developments have brought to expand upon Einstein’s theory. Unique in basing relativity on the Principle of Equivalence of Gravitation and Inertia over Riemannian geometry, this book explores relativity experiments and observational cosmology to provide a sound foundation upon which analyses can be made. Covering special and general relativity, tensor analysis, gravitation, curvature, and more, this book provides an engaging, insightful introduction to the forces that shape the universe.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author Steven Weinberg ForMemRS is an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles.

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

⭐This is possibly the best book I have come across at explaining General Relativity. I am still concentrating on the first seven chapters that culminate in the derivation of Einstein’s field equations. The tensor analysis is developed carefully and very thoroughly with careful explanations of all quantities including the affine connection and the Riemannian curvature tensor and the contracted Riemannian Curvature tensor. The author carefully explains in all cases what happens with thorough calculations what happens to the quantities under coordinate transformations. The Bianchi identities are here as well. It is true that there are other treatments but the coordinate approach seems to work well for doing calculations on the quantities of interest. What I like about this book is that everything is explained very carefully for example the treatment of the Principle of Equivalence on which Einstein based his theory. This is a brilliant book by a Nobel laureate and leading physicist. I am going to enjoy reading immensely the applications of GR which includes tests of General Relativity some of which had been developed by Albert Einstein. The tests of General Relativity which have been applied give everything an historical context. Of course more has been discovered as regards cosmology since the publication of the first edition of his book (1972) so the book is not completely up to date as regards cosmology (inflation) but it is still a very valuable resource. There are many applications of General Relativity including gravitational collapse and gravitational radiation that I am going to enjoy reading about.

⭐This book is a classic of modern physics. The development centers on the principle of equivalence-in free fall coordinate frame, the equality of inertial and gravitational mass leads effectively to an inertial frame (demonstrated using classical uniform g like in high school at the beginning of chapter 3). This will hold at least in sufficiently small regions. No experiment performed in this region can distinguish from any other inertial frame-assuming you can’t look outside and see your fall. If you were to let go of a ball you were happened to be holding-it would stay there, floating-push it-moves away in a straight line-inertial. If someone on the ground were able to see the moving ball-a curved path is seen. In short as straight line motion results from acceleration a=0 in an inertial frame, it also results from a=0 in free fall frame except acceleration is now defined in free fall coordinates and the time parameter is replaced by proper time as learned from special relativity-invariant and approaches normal time at slow speeds. Free fall is then a spacetime geodesic like the straight line. With little more than the chain rule of multivariable calculus the geodesic equation emerges from a=0 with the affine connection. Of course the proper time is also defined in free fall frame coordinates and the metric tensor results. As the particles we analyze are massive, the propertime is positive and a Riemannian structure appears (Lorentz metric signature -2). Contact and consistency with Newtonian theory in appropriate limits is used to guide the development. Sticks to the original tensor development but almost makes it painless. Best book for developing an intuition for the subject. Only wished Dr. Weinberg continued with the principle of equivalence through the entire text rather than making a segway with general covariance.

⭐On of “the” book for GR. I had a soft cover and it worn out and bought the hard cover this is always being my companion for GR in graduate studies. Yes it is little bit dated (specially experimental results like the expansion rate of the universe) but if you are not new to the field of gravity you already know all the updated experimental results. The value of this book is not to find accurate experimental results (you can read latest research articles if you want that) but to gain every bit and piece of the structure of gravitational theory in very great detail towards the line of physics. You would be able to find answers to lots of “whys” you had when you encountered cosmology and GR for the first time. Some of the notations are also out dated. But ideas are still there. I do not think a serious person in the field of gravity will care about few out dated results and notations compared to the entire content of the book.

⭐While this might not be too fair since the author states this in the preface, I found the approach of this book to not be very satisfactory. GR is a beautiful theory and for me part of that beauty is the ability to explain the nature of space time through geometry. Weinberg instead chooses the opposite route, devolving GR into a series of ugly tensor equations with indices flying everywhere. I also don’t agree with the author that other forces aren’t geometric in nature. The other three forces can all be written as Yang-Mills type theories and these are incredibly geometrical. After all they are based on connections on principal bundles and other concepts found in differential geometry. It is also a bit dated especially with regards to cosmology, and for that one can see Weinberg’s newer book “Cosmology”. I would recommend Wald or Straumann way before I suggested someone used this book.

⭐I read these physics books.

⭐This is amazing book. It has a lot details that in a more traditional books don’t mention. I mean in a traditional and introductoy books.I don’t think is the best book for a beginner, but for someone who wants to learn in depth general relativity this book is completely necessary.Also, it’s a bargain. You must buy this book if you want someday to be a expert in General Relativity. This book should the second book after a introduction such as Hobson, Foster, Carroll, etc

⭐What fantastic service .. just a couple of days to come from India .. and in perfect condition.A classic text on G.R. and gravitation, written by a master of theoretical physics. Just brilliant.

⭐The book has the quality of a Springer print on demand book. For those who know it, this is awful. Too expensive to be of such a quality. I think it is an abuse from the publisher or from amazon. I didn’t know that John Wiley and Sons where printing in this terrible conditions. The hard cover was designed for a book much smaller in wide because of the cheap paper it doesn’t fit in this scheme. So sad that they have started too. Save it. You can print it for your self in best quality for a twentieth of the price! Total unfair; not happy at all with this book!La mia copia (copertina flessibile) è arrivata in buone condizioni e nei tempi previsti. Si tratta di un’edizione in lingua inglese pensata per la vendita nel subcontinente indiano, motivo del prezzo più basso rispetto ad altre edizioni. All’interno però i contenuti e la loro disposizione nei vari capitoli è esattamente identica a quella originale. Il libro è un classico sull’argomento e sono globalmente soddisfatto della qualità dell’edizione.Dopo un breve richiamo di Relatività Speciale, l’autore tratta i principali argomenti di Relatività Generale e Cosmologia: il suo modo di procedere è leggermente diverso da altri testi in quanto evita volontariamente di introdurre i concetti di geometria differenziale sottostanti, se non quando strettamente necessario e sempre comunque solo a seguito di motivazioni fisiche. Questo approccio che tenta di “nascondere” la geometria è interessante, ma per una persona che ha appena iniziato ad addentrarsi nella teoria può risultare fuorviante. È sicuramente un libro molto più adatto ad un fisico che ad un matematico.Per quanto riguarda alcuni argomenti più avanzati, il libro risulta inevitabilmente un po’ datato… Questo è il caso ad esempio del capitolo sulle onde gravitazionali in cui l’autore non cita nemmeno gli interferometri, ma descrive soltanto esperimenti di rivelazione con antenne risonanti.The book is filled with Wienberg’s fantastic approach, insights to the subject .He takes the historically accurate geometric approach, rather going with a more mathematical approach and then connect the general picture with the geometric picture. This approach will help you differentiate General relativity and more generalized theories of gravity.The condition was not perfect, looked a little used but overall good.

⭐Libro non conforme alla descrizione. Arriva la versione non originale

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