Special Relativity
There exists already a vast array of available books on Einstein's relativity theory [\textit{J.L. Synge}, Relativity, The Special Theory (North Holland, Amsterdam) (1955); \textit{N. D. Mermin}, Space and Time in Special Relativity (McGraw Hill, New York, St. Louis, San Francisco) (1968); \textit{W. G. Dixon}, Special Relativity: The Foundation of Macroscopic Physics (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, London, New York) (1979); \textit{R. d'Inverno}, Introducing Einstein's Relativity (Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York) (1992); \textit{E. F. Taylor, J. A. Wheeler}, Spacetime Physics: Introduction to Special Relativity (W.H. Freeman, New York) (1992); \textit{W. Rindler}, Relativity, Special, General and Cosmological (Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York) (2001); \textit{N. M. J. Woodhouse}, Special Relativity (Springer-Verlag, London, Berlin, Heidelberg) (2003)]. The book under review is divided into fundamental and advanced topics. The fundamental part gives a detailed explanation of special relativity. It starts with intuitive explanations and gradually builds up more advanced mathematical tools and concepts without the projective aspects of the Lorentz groups \(\text{SO}_0(2,1,{\mathbb R}) \cong\text{PSL}(2,{\mathbb R})\), \(\text{SO}_0(3,1,{\mathbb R}) \cong \text{PSL}(2,{\mathbb C})\) [\textit{K. Kommerell}, Vorlesungen über Analytische Geometrie des Raumes. Zweite Auflage (K. F. Koehler Verlag, Stuttgart) (1950; Zbl 0037.37808)] and the Terrell effect of a moving round sphere [\textit{B. Hoffmann}, Relativity and Its Roots (Scientific American Books, New York) (1983)]. Ultimately, it becomes possible to recast Maxwell's electromagnetic theory in terms of two equations including differential forms and the Hodge star operator \(dF = 0\) and \(\star\,d \star F = J\) (\(F =\) differential two-form of an electromagnetic field on Minkowski space, \(J =\) one-form of charge-current) that incorporates relativistic geometry in an elegant way [\textit{R. K. Sachs, H. Wu}, General Relativity for Mathematicians. (Springer-Verlag, New York, Heidelberg, Berlin) (1977; Zbl 0373.53001); \textit{S. Parrott}, Relativistic Electrodynamics and Differential Geometry. (Springer-Verlag, New York, Berlin, Heidelberg) (1987; Zbl 0609.53045); \textit{M. Kriele}, Spacetime. Foundations of General Relativity and Differential Geometry. (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York) (1999; Zbl 0933.83001)]. The structure of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory implies that magnetic monopoles can only be point particles in four space-time dimensions. In \(d \geq 4\) space-time dimensions, they are \((d - 4)\)-dimensional extended objects known as branes. In gravitostatics, in analogy with electrostatics, there is also an inverse square force law and therefore an equation for a scalar gravitational potential \(\phi_G\), namely \(\nabla^2 \phi_G = 4 \pi G\,\mu\), where \(G\) denotes Newton's constant, and \(\mu\) represents mass density. The correct generalization of this equation is of the form \(G^{\mu \nu} = - 8 \pi G\,T^{\mu \nu}\), where \(G^{\mu \nu}\) denotes the Einstein tensor. These are the fundamental Einstein field equations of general relativity for the energy-momentum tensor or stress-energy tensor \(T^{\mu \nu}\). The first part of each chapter of the book includes an exercise to stimulate the reader's spatial awareness and geometric thinking. The second part of the book includes advanced topics that illustrate how relativity has impacted subsequent developments in theoretical and mathematical physics up to and including modern research work on superstring theory. Relativity and quantum physics each raised a host of new issues, among the most innovative idea being the issue to consider the structure of quantum mechanics as a linear approximation for a theory of matter that is based on the foundations of general relativity [\textit{M. Sachs}, Quantum Mechanics and Gravity (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York) (2004; Zbl 1052.83003)]. Their merger led to many more. This is discussed in in Chapter 7. One aspect of the structure of space-time implied by special relativity is its symmetry. To describe this properly requires some knowledge of group theory. The first elements of group theory and the rudiments of the theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras are explored in Chapter 8. Then Chapter 9 raises the question of whether the symmetry of space-time can be extended in a non-trivial way, and it describes the unique answer, which is supersymmetry. The final Chapter 10, entitled ``Looking onward, gives a brisk overview of modern theoretical physics starting with the well-established theories: General relativity and the standard model of elementary particles. It then discusses more speculative current research topics, especially supersymmetry and string theory [\textit{M. B. Green, J. H. Schwarz} and \textit{E. Witten}, Superstring Theory. Two volumes (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, London, New York) (1987; Zbl 0619.53002)], and concludes with a list of unsolved problems. Each chapter comes with a full set of exercises covering every topic presented and the book is accompanied by an interactive CD-ROM. These problems are topics that one would not ordinarily find in a book about special relativity. Although the innovative conception of the book gives license to explore the interplay with other ideas of modern physics, the text does not open the way to the highly actual field of quantum information science. Nevertheless, the book represents a wonderful gift for the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of Albert Einstein's \textit{annus mirabilis} of 1905.
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