The Springer Handbook of Spacetime is dedicated to the ground-breaking paradigm shifts embodied in the two relativity theories, and describes in detail the profound reshaping of physical sciences they ushered in. It includes in a single volume chapters on foundations, on the underlying mathematics, on physical and astrophysical implications, experimental evidence and cosmological predictions, as well as chapters on efforts to unify general relativity and quantum physics. The Handbook can be used as a desk reference by researchers in a wide variety of fields, not only by specialists in relativity but also by researchers in related areas that either grew out of, or are deeply influenced by, the two relativity theories: cosmology, astronomy and astrophysics, high energy physics, quantum field theory, mathematics, and philosophy of science. It should also serve as a valuable resource for graduate students and young researchers entering these areas, and for instructors who teach courses on these subjects.
The Handbook is divided into six parts. Part A: Introduction to Spacetime Structure. Part B: Foundational Issues. Part C: Spacetime Structure and Mathematics. Part D: Confronting Relativity theories with observations. Part E: General relativity and the universe. Part F: Spacetime beyond Einstein.
Author(s): Abhay Ashtekar, Vesselin Petkov (eds.)
Series: Springer Handbooks
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Year: 2014
Language: English
Pages: 950
Tags: Classical and Quantum Gravitation, Relativity Theory; Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology; Mathematical Applications in the Physical Sciences; History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics
Front Matter....Pages I-XXV
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
From Æther Theory to Special Relativity....Pages 3-25
The Historical Origins of Spacetime....Pages 27-38
Relativity Today....Pages 39-60
Acceleration and Gravity: Einstein’s Principle of Equivalence....Pages 61-70
The Geometry of Newton’s and Einstein’s Theories....Pages 71-89
Time in Special Relativity....Pages 91-113
Front Matter....Pages 115-115
Rigid Motion and Adapted Frames....Pages 117-139
Physics as Spacetime Geometry....Pages 141-163
Electrodynamics of Radiating Charges in a Gravitational Field....Pages 165-184
The Nature and Origin of Time-Asymmetric Spacetime Structures....Pages 185-196
Teleparallelism: A New Insight into Gravity....Pages 197-212
Gravity and Spacetime: An Emergent Perspective....Pages 213-242
Spacetime and the Passage of Time....Pages 243-264
Unitary Representations of the Inhomogeneous Lorentz Group and Their Significance in Quantum Physics....Pages 265-278
Front Matter....Pages 279-279
Spinors....Pages 281-301
The Initial Value Problem in General Relativity....Pages 303-321
Dynamical and Hamiltonian Formulation of General Relativity....Pages 323-362
Positive Energy Theorems in General Relativity....Pages 363-380
Conserved Charges in Asymptotically (Locally) AdS Spacetimes....Pages 381-407
Spacetime Singularities....Pages 409-436
Front Matter....Pages 279-279
Singularities in Cosmological Spacetimes....Pages 437-460
Front Matter....Pages 461-461
The Experimental Status of Special and General Relativity....Pages 463-483
Observational Constraints on Local Lorentz Invariance....Pages 485-507
Relativity in GNSS....Pages 509-525
Quasi-local Black Hole Horizons....Pages 527-555
Gravitational Astronomy....Pages 557-587
Probing Dynamical Spacetimes with Gravitational Waves....Pages 589-613
Front Matter....Pages 615-615
Einstein’s Equations, Cosmology, and Astrophysics....Pages 617-627
Viscous Universe Models....Pages 629-655
Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker Cosmology....Pages 657-671
Exact Approach to Inflationary Universe Models....Pages 673-696
Cosmology with the Cosmic Microwave Background....Pages 697-706
Front Matter....Pages 707-707
Quantum Gravity....Pages 709-722
Quantum Gravity via Causal Dynamical Triangulations....Pages 723-741
String Theory and Primordial Cosmology....Pages 743-750
Quantum Spacetime....Pages 751-757
Gravity, Geometry, and the Quantum....Pages 759-782
Spin Foams....Pages 783-807
Loop Quantum Cosmology....Pages 809-839
Back Matter....Pages 841-887
