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8.962 General Relativity

8.962 General Relativity (Spring 2020, MIT OCW). Instructor: Prof. Scott Hughes. 8.962 is MIT's graduate course in general relativity, which covers the basic principles of Einstein's general theory of relativity, differential geometry, experimental tests of general relativity, black holes, and cosmology. (from ocw.mit.edu)

Lecture 18 - Cosmology I

Cosmology and cosmological spacetimes. This is the first spacetime we compute using a symmetry principle. By requiring that a spacetime be spatially maximally symmetric (i.e., that it have the largest number of possible Killing vectors), we constrain the functional form of its metric. Imposing the Einstein field equations, we develop a pair of simple equations that control how the overall scale of this spacetime evolves. The properties of the matter and energy which fill this universe then determine the universe's geometry and how it evolves with time.


Go to the Course Home or watch other lectures:

Lecture 01 - Introduction and the Geometric Viewpoint on Physics
Lecture 02 - Introduction to Tensors
Lecture 03 - Tensors (cont.)
Lecture 04 - Volumes and Volume Elements; Conservation Laws
Lecture 05 - The Stress Energy Tensor and the Christoffel Symbol
Lecture 06 - The Principle of Equivalence
Lecture 07 - The Principle of Equivalence (cont.); Parallel Transport
Lecture 08 - Lie Transport, Killing Vectors, Tensor Densities
Lecture 09 - Geodesics
Lecture 10 - Spacetime Curvature
Lecture 11 - More on Spacetime Curvature
Lecture 12 - The Einstein Field Equation
Lecture 13 - The Einstein Field Equation (Variant Derivation)
Lecture 14 - Linearized Gravity I: Principles and Static Limit
Lecture 15 - Linearized Gravity II: Dynamic Sources
Lecture 16 - Gravitational Radiation I
Lecture 17 - Gravitational Radiation II
Lecture 18 - Cosmology I
Lecture 19 - Cosmology II
Lecture 20 - Spherical Compact Sources I
Lecture 21 - Spherical Compact Sources II
Lecture 22 - Black Holes I
Lecture 23 - Black Holes II