This landmark text offers a rigorous full-year graduate level course on gravitation physics, teaching students to:
• Grasp the laws of physics in flat spacetime
• Predict orders of magnitude
• Calculate using the principal tools of modern geometry
• Predict all levels of precision
• Understand Einstein's geometric framework for physics
• Explore applications, including pulsars and neutron stars, cosmology, the Schwarzschild geometry and gravitational collapse, and gravitational waves
• Probe experimental tests of Einstein's theory
• Tackle advanced topics such as superspace and quantum geometrodynamics
The book offers a unique, alternating two-track pathway through the subject:
• In many chapters, material focusing on basic physical ideas is designated as
Track 1. These sections together make an appropriate one-term advanced/graduate level course (mathematical prerequisites: vector analysis and simple partial-differential equations). The book is printed to make it easy for readers to identify these sections.
• The remaining Track 2 material provides a wealth of advanced topics instructors can draw from to flesh out a two-term course, with Track 1 sections serving as prerequisites.