December 11, 2024
Notes prepared for the introductory general relativity course PHYSICS 748 at The University of Auckland. They are designed to introduce general relativity to upper-year undergraduate students directly using the modern language of differential geometry but in a physically motivated way, and throughout keeping a logical flow from section to section and chapter to chapter. In doing so, they necessarily cover a number of topics either not normally treated in an introductory cours...
April 13, 2010
This text aims to explain general relativity to geometers who have no knowledge about physics. Using handwritten notes by Michel Vaugon, we construct the bases of the theory.
December 22, 2013
This article has a dual purpose: i) to provide a flavor of the scientific highlights of the landmark conference, GR3, held in July 1962 at Jablonna, near Warsaw; and, ii) to present a bird's eye view of the tremendous advances that have occurred over the half century that separates GR3 and GR20, which was again held in Warsaw in July 2013.
April 29, 2002
In this report, which is an extended version of that appearing in the Proceedings of GR16, I will give a summary of the main topics covered in Session A.3. on mathematical relativity at GR16, Durban. The summary is mainly based on extended abstracts submitted by the speakers. I would like to thank all participants for their contributions and help with this summary.
November 14, 2005
This Resource Letter provides some guidance on issues that arise in teaching general relativity at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Particular emphasis is placed on strategies for presenting the mathematical material needed for the formulation of general relativity.
June 10, 2005
This survey paper is divided into two parts. In the first (section 2), I give a brief account of the structure of classical relativity theory. In the second (section 3), I discuss three special topics: (i) the status of the relative simultaneity relation in the context of Minkowski spacetime; (ii) the "geometrized" version of Newtonian gravitation theory (also known as Newton-Cartan theory); and (iii) the possibility of recovering the global geometric structure of spacetime f...
October 15, 2020
We present a basics of the Einstein General Theory of Relativity. In the first part of this review we derive relations of Riemann geometry which are used in the General Relativity. In the second part we discuss Einstein Equations and some of its consequences (The Schwarzschild solution, gravitational waves, Friedman Equations etc). In the Appendix we briefly discuss a history of the discovery of the Einstein Equations.
October 23, 2000
This is a review devoted to some results of Algebraic Programming (Computer Algebra) used in treating several problems of general relativity, based mainly on already published articles. The article contains the talk given by the author at The Albert Einstein Institut, Max Planck Institut fur Gravitationstheorie, Golm, Germany, september 2000
March 13, 2001
This is a brief introduction to general relativity, designed for both students and teachers of the subject. While there are many excellent expositions of general relativity, few adequately explain the geometrical meaning of the basic equation of the theory: Einstein's equation. Here we give a simple formulation of this equation in terms of the motion of freely falling test particles. We also sketch some of its consequences, and explain how the formulation given here is equiva...
November 25, 2023
This article is an extended version of the article published by EDP Sciences at the occasion of the 150 years of the ``Soci\'et\'e Fran\c{c}aise de Physique'' (in French)