Description
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS A Relativist'S Toolkit : The Mathematics Of Black-Hole Mechanics by Eric Poisson
This 2004 textbook fills a gap in the literature on general relativity by providing the advanced student with practical tools for the computation of many physically interesting quantities. The context is provided by the mathematical theory of black holes one of the most elegant successful and relevant applications of general relativity. Among the topics discussed are congruencies of timelike and null geodesics the embedding of spacelike timelike and null hypersurfaces in spacetime and the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of general relativity. Although the book is selfcontained it is not meant to serve as an introduction to general relativity. Instead it is meant to help the reader acquire advanced skills and become a competent researcher in relativity and gravitational physics. The primary readership consists of graduate students in gravitational physics. It will also be a useful reference for more seasoned researchers working in this field.