Peter Landshoff - Böcker

Einstein's General Theory of Relativity leads to two remarkable predictions: first, that the ultimate destiny of many massive stars is to undergo gravitational collapse and to disappear from view, leaving behind a 'black hole' in space; and secondly, that there will exist singularities in space-time itself. These singularities are places where space-time begins or ends, and the presently known laws of physics break down. They will occur inside black holes, and in the past are what might be construed as the beginning of the universe. To show how these predictions arise, the authors discuss the General Theory of Relativity in the large. Starting with a precise formulation of the theory and an account of the necessary background of differential geometry, the significance of space-time curvature is discussed and the global properties of a number of exact solutions of Einstein's field equations are examined. The theory of the causal structure of a general space-time is developed, and is used to study black holes and to prove a number of theorems establishing the inevitability of singualarities under certain conditions. A discussion of the Cauchy problem for General Relativity is also included in this 1973 book.

In the two volumes that comprise this work Roger Penrose and Wolfgang Rindler introduce the calculus of 2-spinors and the theory of twistors, and discuss in detail how these powerful and elegant methods may be used to elucidate the structure and properties of space-time. In volume 1, Two-spinor calculus and relativistic fields, the calculus of 2-spinors is introduced and developed. Volume 2, Spinor and twistor methods in space-time geometry, introduces the theory of twistors, and studies in detail how the theory of twistors and 2-spinors can be applied to the study of space-time. This work will be of great value to all those studying relativity, differential geometry, particle physics and quantum field theory from beginning graduate students to experts in these fields.

This text describes the gravitational interactions and evolution of astronomical systems on all scales, from small groups of stars through galaxies and clusters of galaxies to the Universe itself. In a rapidly developing area of astronomy, it is the first comprehensive treatise on the subject to be published since the early 1960s. Concentrating on the basic physics, at a graduate student level, it also develops many astronomical applications in considerable detail. The book is self-contained. Most results are derived from preceding ones in a straightforward way. It is written to bring out the physical content behind the mathematical formulae, and contains a number of exercises and suggestions for research topics. Bibliographies with nearly 300 selected references provide gateways into the literature.

This is a modern self-contained introduction to key topics in advanced general relativity. The opening chapter reviews the subject, with strong emphasis on the geometric structures underlying the theory. The next chapter discusses 2-component spinor theory, its usefulness for describing zero-mass fields, its practical application via Newman-Penrose formalism, together with examples and applications. The subsequent chapter is an account of the asymptotic theory far from a strong gravitational source, describing the mathematical theory by which measurements of the far-field and gravitational radiation emanating from a source can be used to describe the source itself. The final chapter describes the natural characteristic initial value problem, first in general terms, and then with particular emphasis for relativity, concluding with its relation to Arnold's singularity theory. Exercises are included.

Quantum field theory forms the present theoretical framework for our understanding of the fundamental interactions of particle physics. This up-dated and expanded text examines gauge theories and their symmetries with an emphasis on their physical and technical aspects. Beginning with a new chapter giving a systematic introduction to classical field theories and a short discussion of their canonical quantization and the discrete symmetries C, P and T, the book provides a brief exposition of perturbation theory, the renormalization programme, and the use of the renormalization group equation. It then explores topics of current research interest including chiral symmetry and its breaking, anomalies, and low energy effective lagrangians and some basics of supersymmetry. A chapter on basics of the electroweak theory is now included. Professor Pokorski, a distinguished theoretical physicist, has presented here a self-contained text for graduate courses in physics; the only prerequisite is some grounding in quantum field theory.

This timely volume provides a broad survey of (2+1)-dimensional quantum gravity. It emphasises the 'quantum cosmology' of closed universes and the quantum mechanics of the (2+1)-dimensional black hole. It compares and contrasts a variety of approaches, and examines what they imply for a realistic theory of quantum gravity. General relativity in three spacetime dimensions has become a popular arena in which to explore the ramifications of quantum gravity. As a diffeomorphism-invariant theory of spacetime structure, this model shares many of the conceptual problems of realistic quantum gravity. But it is also simple enough that many programs of quantization can be carried out explicitly. After analysing the space of classical solutions, this book introduces some fifteen approaches to quantum gravity - from canonical quantization in York's 'extrinsic time' to Chern-Simons quantization, from the loop representation to covariant path integration to lattice methods. Relationships among quantizations are explored, as well as implications for such issues as topology change and the 'problem of time'. This book is an invaluable resource for all graduate students and researchers working in quantum gravity.

This graduate/research level text is a self-contained exposition of the applications of kinetic theory to basic problems in modern cosmology, such as the role of stable and unstable massive neutrinos and the theory of cosmological helium production. There has been rapid development of the theory of the origin and evolution of the universe in recent years, stimulated in large part by new observations and theories in astrophysics and particle physics. This book takes a different approach and studies what can be concluded from the application to cosmological problems of kinetic theory and, in particular, the Boltzmann equation and its solutions. The book begins with a brief survey of the necessary relativity, cosmodynamics, and kinetic theory, before going on to discuss specific problems, such as the role of stable and unstable massive neutrinos, electron-poritron annihilation, and the theory of cosmological helium production. The focus is in obtaining both theoretical understanding and concrete numerical results.

Now in paperback, this text introduces the theoretical framework for describing the quark-gluon plasma, an important new state of matter. The first part of this book is a self-contained introduction to relativistic thermal field theory. Topics include the path integral approach, the real and the imaginary time formalisms, fermion fields and gauge fields at finite temperature. Useful techniques such as the evaluation of frequency sums or the use of cutting rules are illustrated on various examples. The second part of the book is devoted to recent developments, giving a detailed account of collective excitations (bosonic and fermionic), and showing how they give rise to energy scales which imply a reorganization of perturbation theory. The relation with kinetic theory is also explained. Applications to processes which occur in heavy ion collisions and in astrophysics are worked out in detail. Each chapter ends with exercises and a guide to the literature.

This book describes the underlying ideas and modern developments of Regge theory, confronting the theory with quantum chromodynamics and a huge variety of experimental data. It covers forty years of research and provides a unique insight into the theory and its phenomenological development. The authors review experiments that suggest the existence of a soft pomeron, and give a detailed discussion of attempts at describing this through nonperturbative quantum chromodynamics. They suggest that a second, hard pomeron is responsible for the dramatic rise in energy observed in deep inelastic lepton scattering. The two-pomeron hypothesis is applied to a variety of interactions and is compared and contrasted with perturbative quantum chromodynamics, as well as with the dipole approach. This book will provide a valuable reference for experimental particle physicists all over the world. It is also suitable for graduate courses in particle physics, high-energy scattering, QCD and the standard model.

This book describes the underlying ideas and modern developments of Regge theory, confronting the theory with quantum chromodynamics and a huge variety of experimental data. It covers forty years of research and provides a unique insight into the theory and its phenomenological development. The authors review experiments that suggest the existence of a soft pomeron, and give a detailed discussion of attempts at describing this through nonperturbative quantum chromodynamics. They suggest that a second, hard pomeron is responsible for the dramatic rise in energy observed in deep inelastic lepton scattering. The two-pomeron hypothesis is applied to a variety of interactions and is compared and contrasted with perturbative quantum chromodynamics, as well as with the dipole approach. This book will provide a valuable reference for experimental particle physicists all over the world. It is also suitable for graduate courses in particle physics, high-energy scattering, QCD and the standard model.