Home Page for Physics 171 (General Relativity) for the 2001 Fall Quarter

This page contains copies of the class handouts, and other items of interest to the Physics 171 class. This course took place during the 2001 fall quarter at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and it is offered on a yearly basis by the Department of Physics. This web page will continue to be maintained for the foreseeable future.

All the material on this web site is available either as a postscript or as a PDF file. Instructions for viewing and printing such files are provided below.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

[ I. General Information and Syllabus | II. Instructions for Viewing and Printing Files | III. Problem Sets and Exams | IV. Solutions to Problem Sets and Exams | V. Other Class Handouts | VI. A Free Book on Tensor Calculus | VII. Interesting Figures | VIII. Related Web Pages of Interest]

The General Information and Syllabus handout is available in either PDF or Postscript format     [PDF | Postscript]
Some of the information in this handout is reproduced here.

General Information
Instructor	Howard Haber
Office	211 Kerr Hall
Phone	459-4228
Office Hours	Mondays and Tuesdays, 2--3 pm
e-mail	haber@scipp.ucsc.edu
webpage	https://scipp.ucsc.edu/~haber/

Class Hours

Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10--11:45 am, 289 Kerr Hall

Required Textbook

General Relativity, by Ian R. Kenyon (Oxford Science Publications, 1990)

Course Grading and Requirements

40% regular problem sets
25% Midterm Exam (take-home exam November 1--5, 2001)
35% Final Exam (Wednesday December 5, 2001, 8--11 am)

Problem sets will be handed out on a regular basis. The homework problem sets are not optional. You are encouraged to discuss the class material and homework problems with your classmates and to work in groups, but all submitted problems should represent your own work and understanding.

The final exam will be held in 289 Kerr Hall. and will cover the complete course material. You must take the final exam to pass the course.

Course Syllabus

The course outline is available in either PDF or Postscript format     [PDF | Postscript]

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To view and print postscript files, you will need to obtain the program ghostscript and a viewer appropriate for your machine ( e.g., ghostview or gv for unix and linux, GSview for Windows, or MacGSView for Macintosh operating systems). If you are running a unix or linux operating system, then ghostview or gv should already exist on your computer (a version of GSview is also available for linux). If you do not have the required programs, go to http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/ and download the programs appropriate for your computer. Note that GSview and MacGSView also allow you to print postscript files on almost printer (including non-postscript printers).

To view and print PDF files, you need to use Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free program that can be obtained from Adobe Systems Incorporated at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html. On a unix or linux machine, the Adobe Acrobat Reader program (called acroread) may already be installed on your system. It should be noted that the postscript viewing programs gv, GSview and MacGSView (see above) can also view and print PDF files.

Finally, you may wish to set up your web browser so it can automatically view postscript and PDF files. When Adobe Acrobat Reader is installed on your system, it should install a plugin that allows you to view pdf files inside your web browser automatically. To view postscript files, you can either save the files and then view them, or instruct your browser the first time it encounters a postscript file by selecting "open" and then specify the location of the postscript viewer program. In Netscape, you can set this up manually by selecting Edit/Preferences/Navigator/(Helper) Applications from the menu and edit the application/postscript entry to indicate the location of the postscript viewer program. Type in the name of the executable followed by a space and then %s and then press OK.

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Problem sets and exams are available in either PDF or Postscript formats

• Problem Set #1--due: Thursday October 4, 2001     [PDF | Postscript]
• Problem Set #2--due: Thursday October 18, 2001     [PDF | Postscript]
• Problem Set #3--due: Tuesday October 30, 2001     [PDF | Postscript]
• Midterm Take-home Exam--due: Monday November 5, 2001     [PDF | Postscript]

Hints and clarifications for the take-home midterm exam

1. In problem 1, "quadratic in the electromagnetic fields" means that the invariant should contain a product of two fields (or a sum of terms of this type).
2. In problem 2, your final answer should involve only covariant components of the vector V.
3. In problem 3, part (b), write the geodesic equations in their standard form (i.e., one second derivative per equation). This will require a little algebraic manipulation.
4. In problem 4, part (d), make sure you use the results of part (c) to eliminate dt/d(tau), when computing dr/dt.

• Problem Set #4--due: Tuesday November 20, 2001     [PDF | Postscript]
• Problem Set #5--due: Tuesday December 4, 2001     [PDF | Postscript]
• Final Exam--Wednesday December 5, 2001 (8--11 am)     [PDF | Postscript]

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The scanned versions of handwritten problem set and exam solutions are available in PDF format:

• Solution Set #1
• Solution Set #2
• Solution Set #3
• Midterm Exam Solutions
• Solution Set #4
• Solution Set #5
• Final Exam Solutions

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1. THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN GENERAL RELATIVITY AND EXPERIMENT.
By Clifford M. Will (Washington U., St. Louis). Mar 2001. 103pp.
Published in Living Rev.Rel.4:4,2001
e-Print Archive: gr-qc/0103036

References | LaTeX(US) | LaTeX(EU) | Harvmac | BibTeX | Citation Search

Abstract and Postscript from Los Alamos (mirrors: au br cn de es fr il in it jp kr ru tw uk aps )

CERN Library Record

2. SUBTLE IS THE GRAVITY.
By Naresh Dadhich (Ganeshkhind, IUCAA). IUCAA-10-2001, Jan 2001. 26pp.
Seventh Vaidya-Raychaudhari Endowment Award Lecture.
Lectures given at 21st Meeting of the Indian Association for General Relativity and Gravitation (IAGRG 2001), Nagpur, India, 30 Jan - 1 Feb 2001.
e-Print Archive: gr-qc/0102009

References | LaTeX(US) | LaTeX(EU) | Harvmac | BibTeX

Abstract and Postscript from arXiv.org (mirrors: au br cn de es fr il in it jp kr ru tw uk aps )

CERN Library Record

Conference Info

3. THE COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT IN BRIEF.
By Joan Sola (Barcelona Autonoma U., IFAE). UAB-FT-499, Jan 2001. 16pp.
Invited talk given at EURESCO Conference on Frontiers in Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, San Feliu de Guixols, Spain, 30 Sep - 5 Oct 2000.
Published in Nucl.Phys.Proc.Suppl.95:29-37,2001 Also in *San Feliu de Guixols 2000, Frontiers in particle astrophysics and cosmology* 29-37
e-Print Archive: hep-ph/0101134

References | LaTeX(US) | LaTeX(EU) | Harvmac | BibTeX | Keywords | Citation Search

Abstract and Postscript from arXiv.org (mirrors: au br cn de es fr il in it jp kr ru tw uk aps )

CERN Library Record

Nuclear Physics Electronic

Conference Info

4. DETERMINATION OF COSMOLOGICAL PARAMETERS: AN INTRODUCTION FOR NONSPECIALISTS.
By Palash B. Pal (Saha Inst.). SINP-TNP-99-22, May 1999. 12pp.
Invited talk at Meeting on Recent Developments in Neutrino Physics, Ahmedabad, India, 2-4 Feb 1999.
Published in Pramana 54:79-91,2000
e-Print Archive: hep-ph/9906447

References | LaTeX(US) | LaTeX(EU) | Harvmac | BibTeX | Keywords | Citation Search

Abstract and Postscript from arXiv.org (mirrors: au br cn de es fr il in it jp kr ru tw uk aps )

CERN Library Record

Conference Info

5. ASTROPHYSICS AND COSMOLOGY REVIEWS from the Particle Data Group.

Astrophysical constants	Postscript	PDF	(7 pages)
Experimental tests of gravitational theory	Postscript	PDF	(11 pages)
Big Bang cosmology	Postscript	PDF	(28 pages)
Big-bang nucleosynthesis	Postscript	PDF	(11 pages)
Global cosmological parameters: H0, Omega, and Lambda	Postscript	PDF	(17 pages)
Dark matter	Postscript	PDF	(11 pages)
Cosmic background radiation	Postscript	PDF	(13 pages)

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A free textbook entitled Introduction to Tensor Calculus and Continuum Mechanics by John H. Heinbockel is available via the links below. Check it out if you would like more practice in using tensors and manipulating indices.

• bookpdf.zip     PDF format file for downloading (file size approximately 4.3 MB).
• bookps.zip     Postscript format file for downloading (file size approximately 2.6 MB).

The above files are zip files that should be unzipped on a Windows based PC. You should be warned that I have not succeeded in printing out any of the above files obtained after unzipping (although they can be viewed successfully with acrobat reader or ghostview). For your convenience, each chapter of the book appears separately as a pdf and a postscript file below. I made the pdf files from the postscript (rather than use bookpdf.zip) and I was able to print out the resulting pdf files.

Part 1 contains the book cover, preface and a table of contents. Parts 2--5 cover topics of tensor algebra and calculus and Part 6 introduces some differential geometry and applies it to general relativity. Parts 7--12 cover topics of continuum mechanics. Part 13 is the bibliography and three appendices and Part 14 is the index.

WARNING! You may receive a printer error if you try to print the postscript files above. To obtain a hard copy of these chapters, I recommend printing the pdf files.

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1. Constraints on the cosmological parameters: a summary figure--version 1 (postscript version)

2. Constraints on the cosmological parameters: summary figures--version 2 (postscript version)

   

3. The Horizon Problem of Standard Big-Bang Cosmology Illustrated (postscript version)

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• Relativity on the World Wide Web provides a wealth of information and useful links. An even more comprehensive list of links appears in this list of Relativity Bookmarks.
• A web page providing A Guide to Books on Relativity Theory has many useful recommendations.
• Sean M. Carroll has provided a copy of his lecture notes for a course in general relativity given at MIT in the spring of 1996. You can find the lecture notes, along with many useful general relativity links, at the following web page.
• Chris Hillman provides a useful resource by collecting Some Scientifically Inaccurate Claims Concerning Cosmology and Relativity for the benefit of physicists and other scientists who are not specialists in general relativity, who have encountered some of the more sophisticated erroneous claims which rest upon particularly subtle aspects of general relativity, and who would like to understand why specialists in general relativity consider these claims to be based upon misunderstandings of what general relativity really says.
• Ned Wright maintains a very useful web page of cosmology faqs (frequently asked questions).
• The arXiv.org e-print archive provides a warehouse for research papers in many areas of physics and mathematics. Check out the archives for General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology and the archives for Astrophysics. One can easily search for papers in the e-print archives as well as older papers (published before arXiv.org was founded in the early 1990s) using the SPIRES database.

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