Introduction To General Relativity And Cosmology

This page intentionally left blank An Introduction to General Relativity and Cosmology General relativity is a cornerstone of modern physics, and is of major importance in its applications to cosmology. Experts in the field Pleba´nski and Krasi´nski provide a thorough introduction to general relativity to guide the reader through complete derivations of the most important results. An Introduction to General Relativity and Cosmology is a unique text that presents a detailed coverage of cosmology as described by exact methods of relativity and inhomogeneous cosmological models. Geometric, physical and astrophysical properties of inhomogeneous cosmological models and advanced aspects of the Kerr metric are all systematically derived and clearly presented so that the reader can follow and verify all details. The book contains a detailed presentation of many topics that are not found in other textbooks. This textbook for advanced undergraduates and graduates of physics and astronomy will enable students to develop expertise in the mathematical techniques necessary to study general relativity. An Introduction to General Relativity and Cosmology Jerzy Pleba´nski Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados Instituto Politécnico Nacional Apartado Postal 14-740, 07000 México D.F., Mexico Andrzej Krasi´nski Centrum Astronomiczne im. M. Kopernika, Polska Akademia Nauk, Bartycka 18, 00 716 Warszawa, Poland    Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge  , UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521856232 © J. Plebanski and A. Krasi nski 2006 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of releva