Elementary general relativity

The plan of the book is as follows: Chapter 1 develops special relativity in a setting and notation that can immediately be transferred to general relativity. Most of the fundamental geometrical ideas are established here. Chapter 2 gives a more conventional account of some selected applications of special relativity. Chapter 3 is the heart of the book. A geometrical model of space-time is progressively built up, motivated by physical arguments stemming from the equivalence principle, leading to Einstein's field equations. Chapter 4 deals very quickly with the simplest form of weak-field theory with application to gravitational radiation. Chapter 5 concludes the book with a fairly detailed analysis of the Schwarzschild solution, plane fronted gravitational waves, and the Robertson-Walker cosmological solutions. Exercises at the end of each chapter extend the general theory into particular applications, giving a broader picture of the scope of the subject. (author)