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

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SUMMARY

A new textbook on relativity, compiled and edited by Sidney Coleman's former students Griffiths, Derbes, and Sohn, is set to be published by Cambridge University Press in 2022. The book is divided into two parts focusing on special relativity and introductory general relativity, and is available for chapter-by-chapter download on the CUP website. Readers can expect pedagogical insights reflective of Coleman's teaching style, including discussions on Green's functions, the EM field tensor derivation, and mass renormalization in relativistic electrodynamics. However, access to the book requires appropriate credentials or payment.

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  • Familiarity with special relativity concepts
  • Understanding of general relativity basics
  • Knowledge of Green's functions in physics
  • Experience with electromagnetic field theory
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Physics students, educators, and researchers interested in relativity, particularly those looking to deepen their understanding of Sidney Coleman's pedagogical approach and the foundational concepts of special and general relativity.

physicsworks
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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).
 
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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 ?
 

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