Theory of Gravitational Interactions

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XVI

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2. Elementary Notions of Relativistic Field Theory

   • Maurizio Gasperini

   Pages 1-25

3. Towards a Relativistic Theory of Gravity

   • Maurizio Gasperini

   Pages 27-38

4. Tensor Calculus in a Riemann Manifold

   • Maurizio Gasperini

   Pages 39-64

5. Maxwell Equations and Riemann Geometry

   • Maurizio Gasperini

   Pages 65-74

6. Test Bodies and Signals in a Riemann Space–Time

   • Maurizio Gasperini

   Pages 75-87

7. Geodesic Deviation and Curvature Tensor

   • Maurizio Gasperini

   Pages 89-107

8. The Einstein Equations for the Gravitational Field

   • Maurizio Gasperini

   Pages 109-133

9. The Weak-Field Approximation

   • Maurizio Gasperini

   Pages 135-150

10. Gravitational Waves

    • Maurizio Gasperini

    Pages 151-176

11. The Schwarzschild Solution

    • Maurizio Gasperini

    Pages 177-197

12. The Kasner Solution

    • Maurizio Gasperini

    Pages 199-208

13. Vierbeins and Lorentz Connection

    • Maurizio Gasperini

    Pages 209-224

14. The Dirac Equation in a Gravitational Field

    • Maurizio Gasperini

    Pages 225-236

15. Supersymmetry and Supergravity

    • Maurizio Gasperini

    Pages 237-261

16. Back Matter

    Pages 263-322

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This reference textbook is an up-to-date and self-contained introduction to the theory of gravitational interactions. The first part of the book follows the traditional presentation of general relativity as a geometric theory of the macroscopic gravitational field. A second, advanced part then discusses the deep analogies (and differences) between a geometric theory of gravity and the gauge theories of the other fundamental interactions. This fills a gap which is present in the context of the traditional approach to general relativity, and which usually makes students puzzled about the role of gravity. The necessary notions of differential geometry are reduced to the minimum, leaving more room for those aspects of gravitational physics of current phenomenological and theoretical interest, such as the properties of gravitational waves, the gravitational interactions of spinors, and the supersymmetric generalization of the Einstein equations.
Theory of Gravitational Interactions willbe of particular value to undergraduate students pursuing a theoretical or astroparticle curriculum. It can also be used by those teaching related subjects, by PhD students and young researchers working in different scientific sectors but wishing to enlarge their spectrum of interests, and, in general, by all scholars interested in the modern aspects and problems of gravitational interaction.

• Fundamental Interactions
• General Relativity
• Gravitational Theory
• Theory of Gravitational Interactions

• Department of Physics, University of Bari, Bari, Italy

  Maurizio Gasperini

Maurizio Gasperini has already published 6 books with us. He is Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Physics Department of the University of Bari, Italy. He is the author of more than 200 publications on gravitational theory, high-energy physics, and cosmology, and has twice won an "Award for Essays on Gravitation" from the Gravity Research Foundation (1996 and 1998). His former posts include a permanent position in the Department of Theoretical Physics at the University of Turin, and three appointments as Scientific Associate at CERN, Theory Division (1993, 1996 and 2005). Here, in collaboration with Gabriele Veneziano, he formulated and developed an early-cosmology scenario based on the symmetries of string theory.

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