The book is intended to serve as lecture material for courses on relativity at undergraduate level. Although there has been much written on special relativity the present book will emphasize the real applications of relativity. In addition, it will be physically designed with the use of box summaries so as to allow easy access of practical results. The book will be composed of eight chapters. Chapter 1 will give an introduction to special relativity that is the world without gravity. Implications will be presented with emphasis on time dilation and the Doppler shift as practical considerations. In Chapter 2, the four-vector representation of events will be introduced. The bulk of this chapter will deal with flat space dynamics. This will require the generalization of Newton's first and second laws. Some important astronomical applications will be discussed in Chapter 3 and in Chapter 4 some engineering applications of special relativity such as atomic clocks will be presented. Chapter 5 will be dedicated to the thorny question of gravity. The physical motivation of the theory must be examined and the geometrical interpretation presented. Chapter 6 will present astronomical applications of relativistic gravity. These include the usual solar system tests; light bending, time delay, gravitational red-shift, precession of Keplerian orbits. Chapter 7 will be dedicated to relativistic cosmology. Many of the standard cosmological concepts will be introduced, being mathematically simple but conceptually subtle. The concluding chapter will be largely dedicated to the global positioning system as an engineering problem that requires both inertial and gravitational relativity. The large interferometers designed as gravitational wave telescopes will be discussed here.

**A DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022** One of the world's most celebrated cosmologists presents her breakthrough explanation of our origins in the multiverse. In recent years, Laura Mersini-Houghton's ground-breaking theory, spectacularly vindicated with observational evidence, has turned the multiverse from philosophical speculation to one of the most compelling and credible explanations of our universe's origins. In Before the Big Bang, she interweaves the story of how she arrived at this theory with her journey from communist Albania, where she was born and brought up, to the West, showing how her unconventional path helped her to challenge orthodoxies and become one of the most courageous thinkers on the world stage of theoretical physics. 'Fascinating' Roger Penrose, Nobel laureate, and author of The Road to Reality 'There is no better guide to the bizarre, and sometimes paradoxical, cosmic super-realm than Laura Mersini-Houghton' Paul Davies, author of What's Eating the Universe? 'A fascinating and unusual hybrid of pop science and memoir' 5*, Stephen Poole, Daily Telegraph 'From one of the world's most renowned cosmologists ... a fascinating read' Stephon Alexander, author of Fear of a Black Universe

Everything s gone screwy at Tagai Academy. When the headmaster forces Minagi s entire class to study Einstein s theory of relativity over summer school, Minagi volunteers to go in their place. There s just one problem: He s never even heard of relativity before! Luckily, Minagi has the plucky Miss Uraga to teach him. Follow along with The Manga Guide to Relativity as Minagi learns about the non-intuitive laws that shape our universe. Before you know it, you ll master difficult concepts like inertial frames of reference, unified spacetime, and the equivalence principle. You ll see how relativity affects modern astronomy and discover why GPS systems and other everyday technologies depend on Einstein s extraordinary discovery. The Manga Guide to Relativity also teaches you how to: Understand and use E = mc2, the world s most famous equation Calculate the effects of time dilation using the Pythagorean theorem Understand classic thought experiments like the Twin Paradox, and see why len

This textbook develops Special Relativity in a systematic way and offers problems with detailed solutions to empower students to gain a real understanding of this core subject in physics. This new edition has been thoroughly updated and has new sections on relativistic fluids, relativistic kinematics and on four-acceleration. The problems and solution section has been significantly expanded and short history sections have been included throughout the book. The approach is structural in the sense that it develops Special Relativity in Minkowski space following the parallel steps as the development of Newtonian Physics in Euclidian space. A second characteristic of the book is that it discusses the mathematics of the theory independently of the physical principles, so that the reader will appreciate their role in the development of the physical theory. The book is intended to be used both as a textbook for an advanced undergraduate teaching course in Special Relativity but also as a reference book for the future.

Relativity, almost a hundred years old in its classic Einsteinian form, is one of the most fascinating threads running through science from Galileo’s day to ours. This book, based on a short course at the University of Sussex, presents relativity as a natural outgrowth of dynamics: the concepts are introduced through careful physical reasoning and simple mathematics, and are then applied over a wide range, well meshed with current undergraduate syllabuses. Features

• An accessible introduction through pre-Einstein relativity
• Scrupulously assessed experimental evidence (mostly modern)
• Elementary mathematics, aimed at a working acquaintance with kinematics, energy and momentum conservation, and the propagation of plane waves
• The book includes many carefully chosen examples and student problems

Aimed at advanced undergraduates, this self-contained textbook covers the key ideas of special and general relativity together with their applications. The textbook introduces students to basic geometric concepts, such as metrics, connections and curvature, before examining general relativity in more detail. It shows the observational evidence supporting the theory, and the description general relativity provides of black holes and cosmological space-times. The textbook is in full colour, with numerous worked examples and exercises with solutions. Key points and equations are highlighted for easy identification, and each chapter ends with a summary list of important concepts and results. This textbook provides the essential background for an up-to-date discussion of modern observational cosmology. Each chapter builds on the previous one as concepts are developed, making it ideal for self-study. Accompanying resources to this textbook are available at: http: //www.cambridge.org/features/astrophysics

Recent cosmological observations have posed a challenge for traditional theories of gravity: what is the force driving the accelerated expansion of the universe? What if dark energy or dark matter do not exist and what we observe is a modification of the gravitational interaction that dominates the universe at large scales? Various extensions to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity have been proposed, and this book presents a detailed theoretical and phenomenological analysis of several leading, modified theories of gravity. Theories with generalised curvature-matter couplings are first explored, followed by hybrid metric-Palatini gravity. This timely book first discusses key motivations behind the development of these modified gravitational theories, before presenting a detailed overview of their subsequent development, mathematical structure, and cosmological and astrophysical implications. Covering recent developments and with an emphasis on astrophysical and cosmological applications, this is the perfect text for graduate students and researchers.

Here a physicist and a professor of literature guide general readers through the ideas that revolutionized our conception of the physical universe.

Somewhere near the heart of existence, shimmers the ethereal beauty of the mystery of Time. Though seemingly familiar to us all, time harbours secrets that penetrate the very deepest levels of reality, and though we feel certain in our conviction that we're swept forth upon the crest of its never-ending flow, with Einstein's discovery of relativity came what is perhaps the most stunning realisation in the entire history of scientific thought - the wondrously breathtaking revelation that in reality, there's actually no such thing as the passage of time... How can this extraordinary truth be reconciled with the reality we so surely suppose to experience? What does it mean for the very human concerns of life and death, free will, identity, and self? What should it mean for our philosophy? And how should it inform our world view? The search for answers leads through the fantastical realm of quantum physics, and the strange parallel worlds it describes, as we discover that the answers which such questions provoke, are perhaps even more profound than the questions themselves. Buried deep within the riddle of time, lies the staggering beauty of the world. As we peel back the layers to try and sneak a glimpse into eternity, we find a light shining not only upon the nature of reality, but on the nature of ourselves...