Fine literature on penrose diagrams?

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The discussion centers on the challenges of preparing to study general relativity, with participants expressing varying levels of familiarity with the subject. One participant admits to a lack of formal lectures on general relativity and describes their preparation as inadequate, having only read introductory chapters from Malcolm Ludvigsen's and Sean Carroll's texts. They express a preference for books over online journals for learning. The conversation also touches on the connection between general relativity and electrodynamics, specifically mentioning conformal mapping diagrams and their similarities to Penrose diagrams. Several references are suggested for further reading, including Hawking & Ellis's "Large Scale Structure of Spacetime," D'Inverno's text, and various online articles and resources that may aid in understanding the concepts of general relativity more deeply.
M. Kohlhaas
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So here I'm begging for your suggestions. Thanks.
 
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What is your level of preparation? and what are you looking to learn?
Do you have access to online journals?
 
robphy said:
What is your level of preparation? and what are you looking to learn?
Do you have access to online journals?

My level of preparation is something like a desaster i would say. I haven't heard any lectures on general relativity. I just read some chapters in Malcolm Ludvigsen's general relativity and Carroll's spacetime and geometry, mainly the introductory parts on geometry and einstein's equation. They say some words about the diagrams but i would feel more comfortable with a somewhat more serious introduction. As far as i understood it, there exists something similar in electrodynamics. And about that I did have lectures. But my memory is already overwritten i guess...

Online journals... hm... i don't like that. I prefer books.
 
M. Kohlhaas said:
My level of preparation is something like a desaster i would say. I haven't heard any lectures on general relativity. I just read some chapters in Malcolm Ludvigsen's general relativity and Carroll's spacetime and geometry, mainly the introductory parts on geometry and einstein's equation. They say some words about the diagrams but i would feel more comfortable with a somewhat more serious introduction. As far as i understood it, there exists something similar in electrodynamics. And about that I did have lectures. But my memory is already overwritten i guess...

Online journals... hm... i don't like that. I prefer books.

Concerning the connection to electrodynamics, you might be thinking of conformal mapping diagrams... which do share some similarities with the conformal diagrams of Penrose.

Here is a not-so-technical reference: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316483419/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Hawking & Ellis "Large Scale Structure of Spacetime" is certainly one reference.
In addition, there are sections by Penrose in Battelle Rencontres 1967 and Les Houches 1963 (http://relativity.livingreviews.org/refdb/record/3976)... and here is a journal article, available online, http://prola.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v10/i2/p66_1

D'Inverno's text http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Physics/Relativity/?view=usa&sf=toc&ci=9780198596868 might be useful.

Here are some other possibly useful references (online): http://relativity.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrr-2004-1/
http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/gr-qc/9707012
 
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