Introduction to Relativity: For Physicists and Astronomers

by John B. Kogut

Overview

Introduction to Relativity is intended to teach physics and astronomy majors at the freshman, sophomore or upper-division levels how to think about special and general relativity in a fundamental, but accessible, way. Designed to render any reader a "master of relativity", everything on the subject is comprehensible and derivable from first principles. The book emphasizes problem solving, contains abundant problem sets, and is conveniently organized to meet the needs of both student and instructor. - Simplicity: the book teaches space and time in relativity in a physical fashion with minimal mathematics - Conciseness: the book teaches relativity by emphasizing the basic simplicity of the principles at work - Visualization: space-time diagrams (Minkowski) illustrate phenomena from simultaneity to the resolution of the twin paradox in a concrete fashion - Worked problems: two chapters of challenging problems solved in several ways illustrate and teach the principles - Problem sets: each chapter is accompanied by a full set of problems for the student that teach the principles and some new phenonmena

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780080924083
Publisher:	Elsevier Science & Technology Books
Publication date:	12/02/2012
Series:	Complementary Science
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	178
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

John Benjamin Kogut, PhD, is an American theoretical physicist, specializing in high energy physics. He has contributed to the quark-parton model, light-cone quantization, quark confinement, lattice gauge theory, Quantum Chromodynamics (the field theory of quarks and gluons) in extreme environments (high temperatures and densities), and supercomputer simulations as a tool for theoretical physics. For 27 years Dr. Kogut was on the physics faculty of the Loomis Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, retiring in 2005 as professor emeritus.

Table of Contents

1. Physics According to Newton - A World with No Speed Limit2. Physics According to Einstein3. Visualizing Relativity - Minkowski Diagrams4. Assorted Applications5. Illustrations and Problems in Space-Time Measurements6. Relativistic Dynamics7. A Gentle Introduction to General Relativity8. Illustrations, Problems, and Discussions in General Relativity