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Physics 255: Einstein's General Relativity and Gravitation

Physics 255: Einstein's General Relativity and Gravitation (Spring 2014, UC Irvine). Instructor: Professor Herbert W. Hamber. This course provides an introduction to Einstein's theory of gravitation, covering topics: a history of gravity, tensor analysis, Einstein's field equations, astronomical tests of Einstein's theory, and gravitational waves. References used for the class include "Gravitation and Cosmology" by S. Weinberg, "Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity" by J. Hartle, "Lectures on Gravitation" by R.P. Feynman and "Quantum Gravitation" by H.W. Hamber.

Lecture 08 - General Relativity 4

Topics: Principle of General Covariance, Local versus Global Invariances, Gauge Fields and the QED Analogy, General Structure of Invariant Equations, Tensor Algebra, Raising and Lowering of Indices, Contractions, Tensor Densities, Space-Time Volume Element, Transformation Properties of the Affine Connection, General Coordinate Invariance of the Equation of Free Fall


Go to the Course Home or watch other lectures:

Lecture 01 - Introduction, A Brief History of Gravity
Lecture 02 - Special Relativity 1
Lecture 03 - Special Relativity 2
Lecture 04 - Special Relativity 3
Lecture 05 - General Relativity 1
Lecture 06 - General Relativity 2
Lecture 07 - General Relativity 3
Lecture 08 - General Relativity 4
Lecture 09 - General Relativity 5
Lecture 10 - General Relativity 6
Lecture 11 - Field Equations 1
Lecture 12 - Field Equations 2
Lecture 13 - Field Equations 3
Lecture 14 - Solutions to the Field Equations 1
Lecture 15 - Solutions to the Field Equations 2
Lecture 16 - Solutions to the Field Equations 3
Lecture 17 - Solutions to the Field Equations 4
Lecture 18 - Solutions to the Field Equations 5
Lecture 19 - Solutions to the Field Equations 6
Lecture 20 - Gravitation and Quantum Mechanics