Introduction to general relativity. A course for undergraduate students of physics (Q1650412)

As well summarized by the publisher, ``following the approach of Lev Landau and Evgenii Lifshitz, this book introduces the theory of special and general relativity with the Lagrangian formalism and the principle of least action. This method allows the complete theory to be constructed starting from a small number of assumptions, and is the most natural approach in modern theoretical physics. The book begins by reviewing Newtonian mechanics and Newtonian gravity with the Lagrangian formalism and the principle of least action, and then moves to special and general relativity. Most calculations are presented step by step, as is done on the board in class. The book covers recent advances in gravitational wave astronomy and provides a general overview of current lines of research in gravity. It also includes numerous examples and problems in each chapter.''. Only \textit{Chapter 9} lacks of exercises. The merits of this textbook are essentially three: 1) a genuine effort to be both complete and accessible; 2) a rational organization of the text, with thirteen chapters arranged as the weeks of a semester course; 3) a rigorous formalism, coherent with previous works by the same \textit{C. Bambi} [Black holes: a laboratory for testing strong gravity. Singapore: Springer (2017; Zbl 1369.83002)], enriched by clarifying examples. The first part of the book, concerning the mandatory subjects of an introductory course for undergraduate students, is organized as follows. The \textit{Introduction} recalls scalars, vectors and tensors, the Special Principle of Relativity, the Euclidean space, the Galilean transformations, the Principle of Least Action, the constants of motion, the geodesic equations, the Newton's gravity, the Kepler's laws, the Maxwell's equations and the Michelson-Morley experiment; at the end, the author reviews the way towards the theory of Special Relativity. The \textit{Chapter 2} deals with the Special Relativity illustrating the Einstein's Principle of Relativity, the Minkowski spacetime, the Lorentz transformations, the proper time, the example of the cosmic ray muons, the transformation rules and the superluminal motion. The \textit{Chapter 3} elucidates almost any aspects of the relativistic mechanics: the action for a free particle, the 3d and 4d formalism for momentum and energy, the massless particles, the particle collisions (proving that particle colliders are much more efficient than fixed-target accelerators), the GZK cut-off (i.e., the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin study on energetic protons that cannot travel for long distances in the Universe for losing their energy after the interaction with the CMB photons), the multi-body systems, the Lagrangian formalism for fields, the energy-momentum tensor with the specific cases of a free point-like particle and of a perfect fluid. The \textit{Chapter 4} covers the electromagnetism describing the action, the motion of a charged particle with a 3d and 4d formalism, the Maxwell's equations in covariant form (homogeneous and inhomogeneous), the gauge invariance, the energy-momentum tensor of the electromagnetic field. The motion of a charged particle in a constant uniform electric field and the electromagnetic field generated by a charged particle are offered as example applications. The \textit{Chapter 5} expounds the Riemannian geometry from the covariant derivative (definition, parallel transport and properties) to the Riemann tensor (definition, geometrical interpretation, Ricci tensor and scalar curvature, Bianchi identities). The \textit{Chapter 6} discusses General Relativity issues like the general covariance, the Einstein equivalence principle, the connection to the Newtonian potential, the locally inertial frames, the measurements of time intervals (with the example of the GPS satellites) and the non-gravitational phenomena in curved spacetimes. The \textit{Chapter 7} presents Einstein's gravity from the Einstein equations to the matter energy-momentum tensor, with the pseudo-tensor of \textit{L. D. Landau} and \textit{E. M. Lifshitz} [The Classical Theory of Fields. Paris-Frankfurt: Pergamon Press (1962; Zbl 0178.28704]. The \textit{Chapter 8} depicts the Schwarzschild spacetime from the Birkhoff's theorem (stating that the only spherically symmetric solution of the vacuum Einstein equations is the Schwarzschild metric) to the Penrose diagrams. The \textit{Chapter 9} considers the classical tests of General Relativity, that are the gravitational redshift of light, the perihelion precession of Mercury, the deflection of light and the Shapiro time delay effect. The author remarks the importance of the parametrized post-Newtonian formalism (PPN) for testing the solutions of Einstein's gravity in the weak field regime. The second part of the book deepens topics briefly mentioned in ordinary courses on Relativity. The \textit{Chapter 10} explains all the concepts related to black holes until the Kerr-Newman solution for rotating black holes with a non-vanishing electric charge (viewed as generalization of the Reissner-Nordström and Kerr models); the author also employs a Penrose diagram in order to introduce the Oppenheimer-Snyder spacetime for the gravitational collapse of a homogeneous and spherically symmetric cloud of dust. In the \textit{Chapter 11} the author shows how to construct some simple models for the description of the Universe using the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric; for further details, he refers to standard textbooks on cosmology like, e.g., by the same \textit{C. Bambi} and \textit{A. D. Dolgov} [Introduction to Particle Cosmology: The Standard Model of Cosmology and its Open Problems. Berlin: Springer (2015, Zbl 1334.85001)] The \textit{Chapter 12} treats the gravitational waves until the quadrupole formula (remarking how, for the constancy of the quadrupole moment, there is no emission of gravitational waves in a perfectly spherically symmetric collapse and in a perfectly axisymmetric rotating body, so that gravitational waves are emitted only when there is a certain degree of asymmetry like, e.g., in the coalescence of two objects, in the non-radial pulsation of a body, etc.). The author evaluates the energy carried by a gravitational wave with the help of the pseudo-tensor of Landau-Lifshitz and gives the examples of gravitational waves from a rotating neutron star, a binary system, coalescing black holes and extreme-mass ratio inspirals. He eventually analyzes the gravitational wave detectors (interferometers, pulsar timing arrays, resonant detectors) explicating their common mechanism of monitoring the proper distance of test-bodies. The \textit{Chapter 13} investigates what is beyond Einstein's gravity: its quantization, the spacetime singularities, the cosmological constant problem, the black hole thermodynamics and information paradox. Besides useful suggestions for solving the problems proposed at the end of most chapters, the \textit{Appendix} reports basic tools such as some algebraic structures, the vector calculus, the differentiable manifolds, the ellipse equation, the RGTC mathematica package for tensor calculus, the interior solution for any spherically symmetric matter distribution in 4-dimensional Einstein's gravity, the metric around a slow-rotating massive body and the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric. The difficulty generated by the manifold conventions in the literature, a fear expressed by the author, is overcome by an experienced stylistic fluency.