Description
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Large Scale Structure Of Space-Time by S. W. Hawking , G. F. R. Ellis
Einsteins General Theory of Relativity leads to two remarkable predictions: first that the ultimate destiny of many massive stars is to undergo gravitational collapse and to disappear from view leaving behind a black hole in space; and secondly that there will exist singularities in spacetime itself. These singularities are places where spacetime begins or ends and the presently known laws of physics break down. They will occur inside black holes and in the past are what might be construed as the beginning of the universe. To show how these predictions arise the authors discuss the General Theory of Relativity in the large. Starting with a precise formulation of the theory and an account of the necessary background of differential geometry the significance of spacetime curvature is discussed and the global properties of a number of exact solutions of Einsteins field equations are examined. The theory of the causal structure of a general spacetime is developed and is used to study black holes and to prove a number of theorems establishing the inevitability of singualarities under certain conditions. A discussion of the Cauchy problem for General Relativity is also included in this 1973 book.