100 YEARS OF RELATIVITY
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100 YEARS OF RELATIVITY
Space-Time Structure: Einstein and Beyond
edited by Abhay Ashtekar (Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry, Pennsylvania State University, USA)
Thanks to Einstein's relativity theories, our notions of space and time underwent profound revisions about a 100 years ago. The resulting interplay between geometry and physics has dominated all of fundamental physics since then. This volume contains contributions from leading researchers, worldwide, who have thought deeply about the nature and consequences of this interplay. The articles take a long-range view of the subject and distill the most important advances in broad terms, making them easily accessible to non-specialists. The first part is devoted to a summary of how relativity theories were born (J Stachel). The second part discusses the most dramatic ramifications of general relativity, such as black holes (P Chrusciel and R Price), space-time singularities (H Nicolai and A Rendall), gravitational waves (P Laguna and P Saulson), the large scale structure of the cosmos (T Padmanabhan); experimental status of this theory (C Will) as well as its practical application to the GPS system (N Ashby). The last part looks beyond Einstein and provides glimpses into what is in store for us in the 21st century. Contributions here include summaries of radical changes in the notions of space and time that are emerging from quantum field theory in curved space-times (Ford), string theory (T Banks), loop quantum gravity (A Ashtekar), quantum cosmology (M Bojowald), discrete approaches (Dowker, Gambini and Pullin) and twistor theory (R Penrose).
Contents:
- From Newton to Einstein:
- Development of the Concepts of Space, Time and Space-Time from Newton to Einstein (J Stachel)
- Einstein's Universe:
- Gravitational Billiards, Dualities and Hidden Symmetries (H Nicolai)
- The Nature of Spacetime Singularities (A D Rendall)
- Black Holes � An Introduction (P T Chrusciel)
- The Physical Basis of Black Hole Astrophysics (R H Price)
- Probing Space-Time Through Numerical Simulations (P Laguna)
- Understanding Our Universe: Current Status and Open Issues (T Padmanabhan)
- Was Einstein Right? Testing Relativity at the Centenary (C M Will)
- Receiving Gravitational Waves (P R Saulson)
- Relativity in the Global Positioning System (N Ashby)
- Beyond Einstein:
- Spacetime in Semiclassical Gravity (L H Ford)
- Space Time in String Theory (T Banks)
- Quantum Geometry and Its Ramifications (A Ashtekar)
- Loop Quantum Cosmology (M Bojowald)
- Consistent Discrete Space-Time (R Gambini & J Pullin)
- Causal Sets and the Deep Structure of Spacetime (F Dowker)
- The Twistor Approach to Space-Time Structures (R Penrose)
View Full Text (7,670 KB)
Readership: Non specialists interested in relativity, space-time,
string theory, quantum gravity and physics beyond Einstein; graduate students, researchers and academics.
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528pp
Pub. date: Nov 2005
eISBN 978-981-270-098-8
Price: US$114
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