Course: PHZ 6607, Section 1456, Special and General Relativity, Class Hours: MWF Period 7, NPB 1220
Instructor: J. N. Fry, Office: 2172, Phone: 392-6692, e-mail fry#phys.ufl.edu, Office Hours: MWF 11:00–12:00   [Schedule]

Course Description:
PHZ 6607 is the first semester of the introduction to relativity. Outline of topics to be covered and approximate order includes:

• Special relativity
  • Lorentz transformations, coordinate transformations, tensors, invariants
  • kinematics and dynamics
  • covariant electromagnetism, hydrodynamics, stress-energy tensor
  • relativistic (classical) field theory
• General relativity
  • Riemannian geometry
    • spacetime metric, covariant derivatives, geodesics
    • curvature: Riemann, Ricci, Einstein
    • Killing vectors and symmetries
  • Einstein's field equations
  • linearized theory, Newtonian limit
  • physics in curved spacetime
  • exact solutions – Schwarzchild geometry, Robertson-Walker cosmology
• Special Topics
  • black holes
  • gravitational radiation
  • experimental tests
  • relativistic astrophysics
  • cosmology

Grading:
Grades will be based on periodic homework sets, two of which will be dignified as a take-home midterm and final exam.
Midterm Exam [Solution]. The final exam will be distributed on December 1 and will be due on December 14.
Final Exam: Due 6:00pm, Thursday December 14. [Solution].

Required text:

• Sean Carroll, Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity (Addison-Wesley, 2003).
  Errata. Online Lecture Notes on General Relativity. Cosmic Variance

Other useful books:

• Edwin F. Taylor and John Archibald Wheeler, Spacetime Physics (W. H. Freeman, 1966).
• James B. Hartle, Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity (Addison-Wesley, 2003).
• Eric Poisson, A Relativist's Toolkit: The Mathematics of Black-Hole Mechanics (Cambridge Univ, 2004).
• S. W. Hawking and G. F. R. Ellis, The large scale structure of space-time (Cambridge University Press, 1973).
• Steven Weinberg, Gravitation and Cosmology (Wiley, 1972).
• Charles W. Misner, Kip S. Thorne, and John A. Wheeler, Gravitation (W. H. Freeman, 1973).
• Davison E. Soper, Classical Field Theory (Wiley, 1976).
• N. D. Birrell and P. C. W. Davies, Quantum Fields in Curved Space (Cambridge, 1982).
• P. A. M. Dirac, General Theory of Relativity [1975] (Princeton University Press, 1996).
• L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, The Classical Theory of Fields (Pergamon Press, 1975).
• Wolfgang Rindler, Essential Relativity, Second Edition (Springer-Verlag, 1969, 1977).
• ——, Relativity: Special, General, and Cosmological (Oxford University Press, 2006).
• Robert M. Wald, General Relativity (Univ. of Chicago, 1984).
• Bernard F. Schutz [AEI/Cardiff] A first course in general relativity (Cambridge University Press, 1990).
  Solutions to some problems
• Clifford M. Will, Theory and experiment in gravitational physics, revised edition (Cambridge University Press, 1993).
• Ray D'Inverno, Introducing Einstein's Relativity (Oxford University Press, 1992).
• I. R. Kenyon, General Relativity (Oxford University Press, 1990).
• Norbert Straumann, General Relativity, With Applications to Astrophysics (Springer, 2004).
• Malcolm Lidvigsen, General Relativity: A Geometric Approach, (Cambridge University Press, 1999).
• Sidney Coleman, Aspects of Symmetry (Cambridge, 1985). [Quantum Field Theory lectures]
• Robert Hermann, Lie Groups for Physicists (Benjamin, 1966).

Are There Any Good Books on Relativity Theory?

Links:

• Rev. John Michell, Phil. Trans. LXXIV (1784). figure
• Albert Einstein Online
• Andrew Hamilton's Relativity and Black Hole Links
• Cliff Will's Experimental Gravity Page, Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• Albert Stebbins's Gravitational Lensing of Wilson Hall
• John Baez's Relativity Tutorial
• Twin paradox
• Generators of Lorentz transformations
• COBE (GSFC), The nine-minute spectrum
• Effective radial potential [L²/M² = 10, 11, ..., 20], photon effective potential [L²/M² = 10, 20, ..., 100],
• Galactic Center, UCLA Galactic Center Group
• Incompressible OV Star [p(r), g_tt(r), g_rr(r)]
• The Black Hole
• Gravitational wave polarizations, Angular distribution

• S.S. Shapiro et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 121101 (2004)
  Measurement of the Solar Gravitational Deflection of Radio Waves using Geodetic Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry Data, 1979–1999
• J.M. Weisberg and J.H. Taylor, Phys. Rev. Lett. 15, 1348 (1984).
  Observations of Post-Newtonian Timing Effects in the Binary Pulsar PSR 1913+16
• A.M. Ghez et al., Astrophys. J. Lett. 620, 744 (2004).
  Stellar Orbits around the Galactic Center Black Hole
• J.R. Oppenheimer and G.M. Volkoff, Phys. Rev. 55, 373 (1939).
  On Massive Neutron Cores [see eq.(10)]
• M. Campanelli, C. O. Lousto, Y. Zlochower, gr-qc/0604012.
  Spinning-black-hole binaries: The orbital hang up
• J. M. Weisberg and J. H. Taylor, in Binary Radio Pulsars, ed F. A. Rasio and I. H. Stairs,
  ASP Conference Series, Vol. 328, (San Francisco, ASP, 2005), p.25.
  Relativistic Binary Pulsar B1913+16: Thirty Years of Observations and Analysis

Class Diary

Homework:

1. Homework 1. Due Friday September 1. Solution.
2. Homework 2. Due Wednesday September 13. Solution.
3. Homework 3. Due Friday September 22. Solution.
4. Homework 4. Due Friday October 6. Solution.
5. Homework 5. Due Wednesday November 1. Solution.
6. Homework 6. Due Friday November 17. Solution.