Relativity Theory and Astrophysics. 1. Relativity and Cosmology
Jurgen Ehlers, "Relativity Theory and Astrophysics. 1. Relativity and Cosmology"
1967 | pages: 307 | ISBN: 0821811080 | DJVU | 2,5 mb
1967 | pages: 307 | ISBN: 0821811080 | DJVU | 2,5 mb
Gravitation is considered to be of fundamental importance to physics and astrophysics for the following two reasons: (1) All neutral, structureless test particles move equally in the neighborhood of massive bodies (Eotvos-Dicke Experiment), hence the gravitational field cannot be separated unambiguously from the inertial field (Einstein's principle of equivalence). Therefore and because of the approximate local validity of the special theory of relativity, space-time is represented in Einstein's general theory of relativity as a pseudo-Riemannian manifold whose curvature measures the inhomogeneity of the gravitational field. Almost all physical laws require for their mathematical formulation a metric and a linear connection; these structures are physically defined by the behavior of particles1 which, unavoidably, are subject to gravitational forces. Consequently the gravitational field influences, in principle, all physical processes.
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