Beyond Einstein gravity. A survey of gravitational theories for cosmology and astrophysics. (Q992757)

This monograph covers almost all extended theories of gravity which are under current discussion and their application to cosmology. It is a useful guide through the literature on these topics, and the reference list covers as many as 1180 items, mainly from the recent ten years. The authors themselves are active researchers in this field, and so they are able to present the material with competence, especially, they often give the key equations and explain the problematic points. Also, in some cases, they present a good resolution to problems and controversially discussed questions. In detail: Chapter 1 presents the motivations for extending general relativity theory: astrophysical, mathematical and quantum physical ones, and directs special emphasis on scalar-tensor and \(f(R)\) theories. Chapter 2 gives mathematical tools, e.g. conformal maps, variational principles, torsion, and the Noether theorem. Chapter 3 introduces to the gravitational theories other than Einstein's, like Kaluza-Klein, Brans-Dicke, metric and metric-affine versions of \(f(R)\)-theories, fourth-order gravity, theories with Palatini formalism, and theories including torsion as models of the present acceleration of the universe. The next three chapters cover their solutions for spherical symmetry, for the weak-field case, and for cosmology, resp. Finally, many details are given for inflationary cosmology, quantum cosmology, and gravitational waves. Three appendices sum up useful formulas.