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    General Relativity 4: Astrophysics & Cosmology
    General Relativity 4: Astrophysics & Cosmology
    General Relativity 4: Astrophysics & Cosmology
    Ebook74 pages51 minutes

    General Relativity 4: Astrophysics & Cosmology

    By Robert Piccioni

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    About this ebook

    This book concludes our exploration of the most profound theory of science, Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.

    All of modern astrophysics and cosmology stands on the foundation of General Relativity that is best expressed in tensors.

    This book, and its prequel General Relativity 3, present the clearest, most comprehensible, and most complete introduction to the tensor calculus of differential topology, which Einstein used to explain the cosmos. Derivations that are difficult to find elsewhere, are all collected here and explained in detail.

    This book explores:

    photon orbits around black holes
    the black hole mirror effect
    frame-dragging near rotating black holes
    Riemann normal coordinates and Riemann symmetries
    the Bianchi Identity
    how energy and momentum conservation are tied to the geometry of spacetime
    the tensors of relativistic electromagnetism
    the structure of relativistic stars, including neutron stars
    and the FRW expansion equation of the universe

    All this using the tensor calculus of General Relativity.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRobert Piccioni
    Release dateNov 28, 2013
    ISBN9781310131004
    General Relativity 4: Astrophysics & Cosmology
    Author

    Robert Piccioni

    Dr Robert Piccioni is a physicist, public speaker, educator and expert on cosmology and Einstein's theories. His "Everyone's Guide Series" e-books makes the frontiers of science accessible to all. With short books focused on specific topics, readers can easily mix and match, satisfying their individual interests. Each self-contained book tells its own story. The Series may be read in any order or combination. Robert has a B.S. in Physics from Caltech, a Ph.D. in High Energy Physics from Stanford University, was a faculty member at Harvard University and did research at the Stanford Linear Accelerator in Palo Alto, Calif. He has studied with and done research with numerous Nobel Laureates. At Caltech, one of his professors was Richard Feynman, one of the most famous physicists of the 20th century, and a good family friend. Dr. Piccioni has introduced cutting-edge science to numerous non-scientific audiences, including school children and civic groups. He was guest lecturer on a National Geographic/Lindblad cruise, and has given invited talks at Harvard, Caltech, UCLA, and Stanford University.

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      Book preview

      General Relativity 4 - Robert Piccioni

      Chapter 1

      General Relativity Basics

      To make this eBook more self-contained, this chapter reviews key concepts discussed in General Relativity 1, General Relativity 2, & General Relativity 3.

      SPACETIME

      Newton viewed space and time as unrelated, unchanging, absolute, and universal standards to which all measurements of location, motion, and rate of change were referenced. Any competent person measuring the length of a yardstick or the duration of a day would get the one and only right answer.

      Einstein said all of that was wrong. He said space and time are continually changing and are relative — different for different observers. The length of a yardstick and duration of a day have no single right answer. Each observer’s measurements are correct in their own reference frame, while being different from those of observers in other frames. Furthermore, Einstein said space and time are intimately related, two different aspects of one combined entity: spacetime.

      Newton viewed space and time like a Shakespearean stage, providing unchanging references for the positions and pace of a cosmic drama played out by the actors — objects with mass and energy.

      Einstein viewed spacetime like a Cirque du Soleil stage, continually changing, controlling actors’ motions, and playing an essential role in the cosmic drama. He showed that the laws of nature are best expressed in 4-dimensional spacetime.

      Each location in spacetime, each unique combination of t, x, y, and z, is called an event.

      To simplify the equations, we use natural units in which the speed of light and Newton’s gravitational constant equal 1: c=1 and G=1.

      CURVATURE OF SPACETIME

      The three types of curvatures — positive, zero, and negative — are illustrated below. Plane surfaces have zero curvature. Spheres curve inward in every direction, and are defined to have positive curvature (in this context, positive means greater than zero). That leaves negative curvature, such as the surfaces of a potato chip or a saddle, which curve inwards in one direction and outwards in another. The three curvature possibilities are shown below, along with their key geometric properties: the sum of the internal angles of triangles, and the circumference to diameter ratio of circles.

      Three types of curvature.

      THE METRIC

      Everything we need to know about spacetime will come from something quite simple: knowing the distance between two points. The distances between all pairs of nearby points completely define the geometry of spacetime. An equation that provides those distances is called a metric, which forms the basis for all measurements.

      General Relativity is the foundation for understanding all cosmic phenomena: our Solar System, neutron stars, binary pulsars, black holes, galaxies, and our universe as a whole. Each phenomenon has a different effect on the geometry of spacetime, and thus has a different metric. The first essential step toward understanding any cosmic phenomenon is discovering its metric.

      Simple geometries have the simplest metrics; several are listed below. The notation "dx" indicates an incremental distance in the x direction, as is customary in calculus, and ds² is called the invariant interval between incrementally separated events. An invariant quantity has the same value in all reference frames.

      Rectilinear Flat Metrics:

      2-D: ds² = dx² + dy²

      3-D: ds² = dx² + dy² + dz²

      4-D: ds² = dx² + dy² + dz² – dt²

      Flat Metrics for Spherically Symmetry:

      2-D: ds² = r² dθ² + r² sin²θ dϕ²

      3-D: ds² = r² dθ² + r² sin²θ dϕ² +

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