Special Relativity in General Frames: From Particles to Astrophysics
Eric Gourgoulhon
Springer, 2013
784 pages
Special relativity is presented by adopting a four-dimensional point of view from the start. A distinctive feature of the book is that it doesn’t restrict itself to inertial frames and considers accelerated and rotating observers. It is thus possible to treat physical effects such as the Thomas precession or the Sagnac effect in a simple yet precise manner. In the final chapters, more advanced topics like tensorial fields in spacetime, exterior calculus, relativistic hydrodynamics and relativistic gravity are addressed. Illustrated by 178 figures and enriched by many historical notes, this book also presents many applications of special relativity, ranging from particle physics (accelerators, particle collisions, quark-gluon plasma) to astrophysics (relativistic jets, active galactic nuclei), and including practical applications (Sagnac gyrometers, synchrotron radiation, GPS). In addition, the book provides some mathematical developments, such as the detailed analysis of the Lorentz group and its Lie algebra.
Contents:
1. Minkowski Spacetime
2. Worldlines and Proper Time
3. Observers
4. Kinematics 1: Motion with Respect to an Observer
5. Kinematics 2: Change of Observer
6. Lorentz Group
7. Lorentz Group as a Lie Group
8. Inertial Observers and Poincaré Group
9. Energy and Momentum
10. Angular Momentum
11. Principle of Least Action
12. Accelerated Observers
13. Rotating Observers
14. Tensors and Alternate Forms
15. Fields on Spacetime
16. Integration in Spacetime
17. Electromagnetic Field
18. Maxwell Equations
19. Energy-Momentum Tensor
20. Energy-Momentum of the Electromagnetic Field
21. Relativistic Hydrodynamics
22. What about Relativistic Gravitation?
A. Basic Algebra
B. Web Pages
C. Special Relativity Books
More details on http://relativite.obspm.fr/sperel/