AnIntroductiontoRelativisticGravitation

Thisisanintroductorytextbookonapplicationsofgeneralrelativitytoastrophysicsandcosmology.Theaimistoprovidegraduatestudentswithatoolkitforunderstandingastronomicalphenomenathatinvolvevelocitiesclosetothatoflightorintensegravitationalfields.Theapproachtakenisfirsttogivethereaderathoroughgroundinginspecialrelativity,withspace-timethecentralconcept,followingwhichgeneralrelativitypresentsfewconceptualdifficulties.Examplesofrelativisticgravitationinactionaredrawnfromtheastrophysicaldomain.Thebookcanbereadontwolevels:firstasanintroductoryfast-trackcourse,andthenasadetailedcoursereinforcedbyproblemswhichilluminatetechnicalexamples.Thebookhasextensivelinkstotheliteratureofrelativisticastrophysicsandcosmology.