Sidney Coleman's Lectures on Relativity: New Book by CUP

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter physicsworks
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Lectures Relativity
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around a new textbook on relativity compiled and edited by Sidney Coleman's former students, focusing on both special and introductory general relativity. Participants share their initial impressions of the book's content and accessibility, as well as their personal experiences with obtaining the material.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant notes the book's structure, highlighting its division into special relativity and general relativity, and mentions the ability to download it chapter-by-chapter from the Cambridge UP website.
  • Another participant points out the requirement for appropriate credentials or payment to access the book, indicating potential barriers to availability.
  • A later reply confirms that access may be possible through specific networks like eduroam, but this does not resolve the issue for those without institutional affiliations.
  • One participant expresses their lack of current institutional affiliation and their interest in Coleman's work, indicating a desire for access to the book.
  • A student from the University of Toulouse requests assistance in obtaining a digital copy due to their lack of access to eduroam.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the existence and content of the new textbook, but there are multiple competing views regarding access and availability, with no consensus on how to obtain it without institutional credentials.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express limitations based on their current affiliations, which affects their ability to download the book. There are unresolved questions about the accessibility of the material for those outside educational institutions.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in relativity, Sidney Coleman's teaching style, or those seeking new educational resources in physics may find this discussion relevant.

physicsworks
Gold Member
Messages
83
Reaction score
63
In case you haven't heard, there is a new textbook on relativity to be published by Cambridge UP in 2022. It is compiled and edited by Coleman's three students Griffiths, Derbes, and Sohn who took Physics 210 relativity course at Harvard in the late 60's when Sidney was teaching it.

The book consists of two parts devoted to special relativity and (beginning) general relativity. The entire book can be downloaded on a chapter-by-chapter basis on CUP website and is also available to pre-order on various platforms.

Those who have read Coleman's "Aspects of Symmetry" and his recently compiled lecture notes on QFT (again, by his students) may expect the new book to become pedagogically successeful, even though the lectures were delivered 50 years ago. I have only glanced through the first part on special relativity so far, but I can already note a nice discussion of Green's funcitons, an often omitted derivation of the EM field tensor due to a point charge in arbitrary motion, and an important discussion of mass renormalization in relativistic electrodynamics, among other things. In addition, Coleman's style of teaching physics is nicely conveyed by the editors and is apparent from reading the book. However, these are still lecture notes, so do not expect a full treatise on relativity (the second part of the book on general relativity is introductory).
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: vanhees71 and Demystifier
Physics news on Phys.org
It seems you must have appropriate credentials or money to download anything.
 
PAllen said:
It seems you must have appropriate credentials or money to download anything.
Sorry, I was accessing it from work when I last checked. The book can be downloaded on eduroam network as well.
 
physicsworks said:
Sorry, I was accessing it from work when I last checked. The book can be downloaded on eduroam network as well.
That doesn't help me either. I am not currently affiliated with any educational institution (or any institution at all - fully retired). But always a big fan of Coleman.
 
PAllen said:
I am not currently affiliated with any educational institution (or any institution at all - fully retired).
Sent via private messages.
 
physicsworks said:
Sent via private messages.
Hello sir, i'm a student at the university of Toulouse in France, therfore I do not have acces to eduroam. Would it be possible to have a digital copy sent as well ?
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
3K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
1K
  • Sticky
  • · Replies 33 ·
2
Replies
33
Views
11K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
2K
  • · Replies 18 ·
Replies
18
Views
3K
  • · Replies 32 ·
2
Replies
32
Views
7K
  • · Replies 31 ·
2
Replies
31
Views
10K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
1K
  • · Replies 16 ·
Replies
16
Views
8K
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
5K