Einstein's relativistic theory of gravitation--general relativity--will shortly be a century old. At its core is one of the most beautiful and revolutionary conceptions of modem science--the idea that gravity is the geometry of four-dimensional curved spacetime. Together with quantum theory, general relativity is one of the two most profound developments of twentieth-century physics.

Preface

PART Ⅰ SPACE AND TIME IN NEWTONIAN PHYSICS AND SPECIAL RELATIVITY

1 Gravitational Physics

2 Geometry as Physics

 2.1 Gravity Is Geometry

 2.2 Experiments in Geometry

 2.3 Different Geometries

 2.4 Specifying Geometry

 2.5 Coordinates and Line Element

 2.6 Coordinates and Invariance

3 Space, lime, and Gravity in Newtonian Physics

 3.1 Inertial Frames

 3.2 The Principle of Relativity

 3.3 Newtonian Gravity

 3.4 Gravitational and Inertial Mass

 3.5 Variational Principle for Newtonian Mechanics

4 Principles of Special Relativity

5 Special Relativistic Mechanics

PART Ⅱ THE CURVED SPACETIMES OF GENERAL RELATIVITY

6 Gravity as Geometry

7 The Description of Curved Spacetime

8 Geodesics

9 The Geometry Outside a Spherical Star

10 Solar System Tests of General Relativity

11 Relativistic Gravity in Action

12 Gravitational Collapse and Black Holes

13 Astrophysical Black Holes

14 A Little Rotation

15 Rotating Black Holes

16 Gravitational Waves

17 The Universe Observed

18 Cosmological Models

19 Which Universe and Why?

PART Ⅲ THE EINSTEIN EQUATION

20 A Little More Math

21 Curvature and the Einstein Equation

22 The Source of Curvature

23 Gravitational Wave Emission

24 Relativistic Stars

APPENDIXES