8.962 General Relativity (Spring 2020, MIT OCW): Lecture 22

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 22 - Black Holes I

We reconcile the odd behavior of the different views of infall into the spherically symmetric spacetime by studying the motion of light. We find that these spacetimes contain a surface beyond which communication is not possible - an "event horizon" - and therefore constitute black holes. This class focuses on the non-rotating Schwarzschild black hole; more general forms are known (the rotating Kerr solution being particularly important). Unfortunately, plans for more detailed discussion were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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