MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS

Academic Year 2022-2023

Teachers

Sebastiano Sonego

Unit Credits

Teaching Period

Second Period

Course Type

Supplementary

Prerequisites. Good knowlwdge of analytical mechanics, electromagnetism and linear algebra. Elementary knowledge on differentiable manifolds.

Teaching Methods. Lectures about theoretical topics.

Verification of Learning. Oral exam.

More Information. If required, the course may be taught in English.

Objectives

The student will develop a detailed knowledge of the conceptual and mathematical foundations of the modern classical theories of gravity, with particular emphasis on general relativity. A significant fraction of the lectures will be devoted to the development of topic in Riemannian differential geometry. This will allow the students to establish interesting connections between topics in pure mathematics and modern physics.

The course gives the conceptual and formal bases of modern classical theories of gravity and spacetime.

Contents:

Tensors. Special relativity. Physical foundations of general relativity. Connection. Metric. Physics in a curved spacetime. Gravitational field equations. Schwarzschild spacetime and its maximal extension. Gravitational waves.

Texts

Lecture notes, that can be downloaded from the website of the university.

R. M. Wald, General Relativity (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1984).

Academic Year 2022-2023