The Scalar-Tensor Theory of Gravitation

by Yasunori Fujii, Kei-ichi Maeda

Overview

The scalar-tensor theory of gravitation moved into the limelight in recent years due to developments in string theory, M-theory and "brane world" constructions. This book introduces the subject at a level suitable for both graduate students and researchers. It explores scalar fields, placing them in context with a discussion of Brans-Dicke theory, covering the cosmological constant problem, higher dimensional space-time, branes and conformal transformations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521811590
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/02/2003
Series:	Cambridge Monographs on Mathematical Physics
Pages:	258
Product dimensions:	7.13(w) x 10.04(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Yasunori Fujii received his PhD on the analogy between the strong interaction and the electromagnetic interaction, from Nagoya University in 1959. Between 1963 and 1992 he did research on the theory of particle physics and gravity, including pioneering work on the idea of non-Newtonian gravity, at the Institute of Physics, University of Tokyo. During this period, he also spent two years at Stanford University, California and a year at Purdue University, Indiana. He is currently emeritus professor at the University of Tokyo-Komaba and continues to pursue his research interests at the Nihon Fukushi University.

Kai-Ichi Maeda received his PhD from Kyoto University in 1980. He and his contemporaries created a new research group in Kyoto, which was at the root of numerical relativity research in Japan. In 1983 he became a postdoctoral student at SISSA, Trieste working under Dennis Sciama. He moved to the Meudon Observatory in Paris in 1987 and worked on black hole solutions in string theory. In 1989 Professor Maeda became affiliated with the Department of Physics at Waseda University, Japan. Since 1998, he has been the associate editor of the Journal of General Relativity and Gravitation, and also the vice-chief editor of the Journal of the Physical Society of Japan since 2001.

Table of Contents

Preface; Conventions and notation; 1. Introduction; 2. The prototype Brans-Dicke model; 3. Conformal transformation; 4. Cosmology with Λ; 5. Models of an accelerating universe; 6. Quantum effects; Appendices; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...a pleasant book, easy to read, and for this reviewer it is pedagogical enough to be considered also as a very useful textbook for graduate courses in cosmology, gravitation and relativity." Mathematical Reviews

From the Publisher