Essential Relativity Special, General, and Cosmological
In retrospect, the first edition of this book now seems like a mere sketch for a book. The present version is, if not the final product, at least a closer approximation to it. The table of contents may show little change. But that is simply because the or
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W. Beiglbock series editor
Wolfgang Rindler
Essential Relativity Special, General, and Cosmological
Second Edition
Springer-Verlag New York
Heidelberg
Berlin
Wolfgang Rindler The University of Texas at Dallas Box 688 Richardson, Texas 75080jUSA
Wolf BeiglbOck Institut fUr Angewandte Mathematik der Universitat 1m Neuenheimer Feld 294 6900 Heidelberg Federal Republic of Germany
With 44 Figures
ISBN-13: 978-3-540-10090-4
e-ISBN-13: 978-3-642-86650-0
001: 10.1007/978-3-642-86650-0
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Rindler, Wolfgang, 1924Essential relativity. (Texts and monographs in physics) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Relativity (Physics) I. Title. QCI73.55.R56
1977
530.1'1
76-28816
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form without written permission from the copy-right holder.
© 1969 and 1977 by Wolfgang Rindler Softcover reprint of the hardcover 2nd edition 1977
Preface to the Second Edition
In retrospect, the first edition of this book now seems like a mere sketch for a book. The present version is, if not the final product, at least a closer approximation to it. The table of contents may show little change. But that is simply because the original organization of the material has been found satisfactory. Also the basic purpose of the book remains the same, and that is to make relativity come alive conceptually. I have always felt much sympathy with Richard Courant's maxim (as reported and exemplified by Pascual Jordan) that, ideally, proofs should be reached by comprehension rather than computation. Where computations are necessary, I have tried to make them as transparent as possible, so as not to hinder the progress of comprehension. Among the more obvious changes, this edition contains a new section on Kruskal space, another on the plane gravitational wave, and a third on linearized general relativity; it also contains many new exercises, and two appendices: one listing the curvature components for the diagonal metric (in a little more generality than the old" Dingle formulas "), and one synthesizing Maxwell's theory in tensor form. But the most significant changes and additions have occurred throughout the text. Many sections have been completely rewritten, many arguments tightened, many "asides" added, and, of course, recent developments taken into account. Yet I am keenly aware that, by being overloaded with information, a distinctly non-encyclopedic book like this might easily lose whatever immediacy and transparency it possesses. Thus, ultimately, the new material was determined by the enthusiasm with which I felt I could present it.
vi Preface to the Second Edition
My thanks go out to all those who have taken the trouble to comment on the first edition, particularly to Banesh Hoffmann, Kenneth Jacobs, and Robert Gowdy. The new book owes much to them. I again owe a special debt of gratitude to Jiirgen Ehlers, for his continued support of this project, and for reading portions of the new manuscript in
