Reference that explains general relativity

[jinbaw]

Hi guys,

I need to write few paragraphs to explain Einstein's formulation of gravity in terms of the metric, christofell symbols, and Reimann curvature tensor. I also want to write about the veirbein and spin connection formalism of gravity.
Can anyone suggest good, yet simple references that i might use for this purpose? thank you!

 

[stevenb]

Hi guys,

I need to write few paragraphs to explain Einstein's formulation of gravity in terms of the metric, christofell symbols, and Reimann curvature tensor. I also want to write about the veirbein and spin connection formalism of gravity.
Can anyone suggest good, yet simple references that i might use for this purpose? thank you!

One of the best concise summaries of GR that I've ever seen is the first chapter of the book "Introduction to 3+1 Numerical Relativity", by Miguel Alcubierre. The book itself is not what you are after becasue it is about numerical implementations, but the introduction is excellent as a summary. The nice thing is that some pages of the first chapter are available to read at Amazon. So you can quickly scan this to see if it's what you want. In my view, the price of the book is worth the first chapter alone.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199205671/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[Daverz]

Sean Carroll's talks may help you get started.

 

[jinbaw]

Thank you stevenb, i had a look at the Alcubierre's book. it is exactly what i want to understand the formulation of gravity in terms of the metric. Do u know of any book that would introduce the concept of veirbeins in an analogous manner?

 

[jinbaw]

Daverz i had a look at the notes written by Caroll, but i don't know why i do not have access to the videos. Thanks anyways:)

 

[stevenb]

Thank you stevenb, i had a look at the Alcubierre's book. it is exactly what i want to understand the formulation of gravity in terms of the metric. Do u know of any book that would introduce the concept of veirbeins in an analogous manner?

Caroll's book is also good and more complete than his notes. There is also the Alex Maloney lectures at

http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/~maloney/514/

There are many other good books and Dr. Maloney recommends some in his lectures.

And, youtube has the Susskind GR lectures. You can find it easiliy if you do a search on youtube "Susskind General Relativity Lecture".

Note that the Alcubierre's book is very advanced after chapter 1, and the first chapter summary is only good as a concise reference once you understand the material. However, I wish I had that summary when I was learning the basics because it provides a good roadmap while learning and a great refresher course if you want to go back and relearn after not using it for a few years. I also wish I had those Susskind lectures because he has a gift for making the subject easy, which it actually is (at least conceptually) if taught correctly and studied diligently.

 

[atyy]

Thank you stevenb, i had a look at the Alcubierre's book. it is exactly what i want to understand the formulation of gravity in terms of the metric. Do u know of any book that would introduce the concept of veirbeins in an analogous manner?

http://www.physics.wayne.edu/~ablechman/main/Teaching_files/mpri.pdf
http://sites.google.com/site/winitzki/index/topics-in-general-relativity