The Special Theory of Relativity: A Mathematical Approach

by Farook Rahaman

Overview

This textbook expounds the major topics in the special theory of relativity. It provides a detailed examination of the mathematical foundation of the special theory of relativity, relativistic mass, relativistic mechanics, and relativistic electrodynamics. As well as covariant formulation of relativistic mechanics and electrodynamics, the text discusses the relativistic effect on photons. A new chapter on electromagnetic waves as well as several new problems and examples have been included in the second edition of the book. Using the mathematical approach, the text offers graduate students a clear, concise view of the special theory of relativity. Organized into 15 chapters and two appendices, the content is presented in a logical order, and every topic has been dealt with in a simple and lucid manner. To aid understanding of the subject, the text provides numerous relevant worked-out examples in every chapter. The mathematical approach of the text helps students in theirindependent study and motivates them to research the topic further.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789811904967
Publisher:	Springer Nature Singapore
Publication date:	04/12/2022
Series:	UNITEXT , #136
Edition description:	2nd ed. 2022
Pages:	337
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Farook Rahaman, (FRAS) is Professor at the Department of Mathematics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. With over 21 years of experience in teaching and working in various fields of application of relativity, his area of research interests are topological defects, compact stars, wormholes, gravastars, galactic dark matter, and cosmology. He has supervised more than 28 PhD scholars and has more than 300 research papers published in renowned international journals. Professor Rahaman has been elected as Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS), London, UK, in 2019, as well as he has been selected for the TWAS UNESCO Associateship, Trieste, Italy, from 2011–2014. Further, he has also been selected for Associate of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, India, and Associate of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc), Chennai, India, in 2009. He has been offered the UGC Post-Doctoral Research award by the Government of India in2010. He has been included to the top 2-percent scientists, 2020 and 2021, in the research field nuclear and particle physics prepared by Stanford University, USA. He is author/coauthor of three books with several publishers: Finsler Geometry of Hadrons and Lyra Geometry: Cosmological Aspects, General Theory of Relativity: A Mathematical Approach, and Special Theory of Relativity: A Mathematical Approach (Springer).

Table of Contents

Pre-Relativity and Galilean Transformations.- Michelson-Morley Experiment and Velocity of Light.- Lorentz Transformations.- Mathematical Properties of Lorentz Transformations.- More mathematical Properties of Lorentz Transformations.- Geometrical Interpretation of spacetime.- Relativistic Velocity and Acceleration.- Four Dimensional World.- Mass in Relativity.- Relativistic Dynamics.- Photon in Relativity.- Relativistic Lagrangian and Hamiltonian.- Electrodynamics in Relativity.- Electromagnetic waves.- Relativistic Mechanics of Continua.

Editorial Reviews

This book offers a valuable exposition of the main topics in the special theory of relativity. … The book is concise but clear and well written. It provides a number of interesting examples … and worked exercises in every chapter, helping the reader to understand the topic at hand. … The book would be appropriate as an introductory text on special relativity for graduate students.” (Francesco Sorge, Mathematical Reviews, June, 2015)

“The book is a self-contained and well planned text book for graduate students. It covers the special theory of relativity for mathematics and physics students. The main goal of the book is a clear and successful presentation of the basic ideas of relativity. The reader can see an attention of the author to help students in understanding and further developing of the basic notions of the subject.” (P. K. Sahoo, zbMATH 1316.83018, 2015)

From the Publisher