
Relativity Made Relatively Easy
Volume 1
Andrew M. Steane(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 4. October 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
448 pages
978-0-19-966286-9 (ISBN)
Description
Relativity Made Relatively Easy presents an extensive study of Special Relativity and a gentle (but exact) introduction to General Relativity for undergraduate students of physics. Assuming almost no prior knowledge, it allows the student to handle all the Relativity needed for a university course, with explanations as simple, thorough, and engaging as possible.
The aim is to make manageable what would otherwise be regarded as hard; to make derivations as simple as possible and physical ideas as transparent as possible. Lorentz invariants and four-vectors are introduced early on, but tensor notation is postponed until needed. In addition to the more basic ideas such as Doppler effect and collisions, the text introduces more advanced material such as radiation from accelerating charges, Lagrangian methods, the stress-energy tensor, and introductory General Relativity, including Gaussian curvature, the Schwarzschild solution, gravitational lensing, and black holes. A second volume will extend the treatment of General Relativity somewhat more thoroughly, and also introduce Cosmology, spinors, and some field theory.
The aim is to make manageable what would otherwise be regarded as hard; to make derivations as simple as possible and physical ideas as transparent as possible. Lorentz invariants and four-vectors are introduced early on, but tensor notation is postponed until needed. In addition to the more basic ideas such as Doppler effect and collisions, the text introduces more advanced material such as radiation from accelerating charges, Lagrangian methods, the stress-energy tensor, and introductory General Relativity, including Gaussian curvature, the Schwarzschild solution, gravitational lensing, and black holes. A second volume will extend the treatment of General Relativity somewhat more thoroughly, and also introduce Cosmology, spinors, and some field theory.
Reviews / Votes
I would commend the present text highly to those who want a physics-oriented rather than a mathematics-oriented treatment, written in a studentfriendly style without compromising the content or accuracy, and with a very good coverage of special relativity ... I am sure that this bookwill find a deserved place in the undergraduate physics courses, as well as suiting the needs of post-graduate students in coming to grips with the more advanced subject-matter. * Peter J. Bussey, Contemporary Physics * I would commend the present text highly to those who want a physics-oriented rather than a mathematics-oriented treatment, written in a studentfriendly style without compromising the content or accuracy, and with a very good coverage of special relativity ... I am sure that this bookwill find a deserved place in the undergraduate physics courses, as well as suiting the needs of post-graduate students in coming to grips with the more advanced subject-matter. * Peter J. Bussey, Contemporary Physics *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Physics students at the undergraduate and beginning graduate level.
Illustrations
198 b/w illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 245 mm
Width: 190 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
948 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-966286-9 (9780199662869)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
10/2012
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€44.99
Available for download

E-Book
10/2012
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€44.99
Available for download
Person
Andrew M. Steane was born in Bath, England (1965) and educated at Christ's Hospital school and Oxford University. He has been Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford since 2002 and has been a Visiting Professor at various institutes. Steane was awarded the Maxwell Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics in 2000 for his work on quantum error correction. He has given numerous public lectures and school demonstrations in physics, and is the author of "The Wonderful World of Relativity" (OUP, Oxford 2011).
Content
PART I: THE RELATIVISTIC WORLD ; 1. Basic ideas ; 2. The Lorentz transformation ; 3. Moving light sources ; 4. Dynamics ; 5. The conservation of energy-momentum ; 6. Further kinematics ; 7. Relativity and electromagnetism ; 8. Electromagnetic radiation ; PART II: AN INTRODUCTION TO GENERAL RELATIVITY ; 9. The Principle of Equivalence ; 10. Warped spacetime ; 11. Physics from the metric ; PART III: FURTHER SPECIAL RELATIVITY ; 12. Tensors and index notation ; 13. Rediscovering electromagnetism ; 14. Lagrangian mechanics ; 15. Angular momentum ; 16. Energy density ; 17. What is spacetime?