ABSTRACT

This book suitable for post graduates in Physics and Astrophysics aims at introducing the theory of general relativity as an important background for doing astrophysics. Starting from a detailed discussion of the various mathematical concepts for doing general relativity, the book introduces the geometric description of gravity. It gives a brief historical perspective to classical mechanics and electrodynamics making an attempt to establish the necessity of special relativity as propounded by Einstein extending to General Relativity. This book is a good starting point for post graduates wanting to pursue the modern topics of Cosmology, High energy astrophysics and related areas.

chapter 1|34 pages

Mathematical Preliminaries

chapter 2|48 pages

Prerelativity Physics

chapter 3|32 pages

Special Relativity

chapter 4|46 pages

General Relativity

chapter 5|38 pages

Exact Solutions and Applications

chapter 6|72 pages

Astrophysical Applications

chapter 7|80 pages

Accretion Dynamics

chapter 8|24 pages

Inertial Forces in General Relativity

chapter 9|18 pages

Gravity as a Gauge Theory