8.962 General Relativity (Spring 2020, MIT OCW): Lecture 18

8.962 General Relativity

8.962 General Relativity (Spring 2020, MIT OCW). Instructor: Prof. Scott Hughes. 8.962 is MIT's graduate course in general relativity, which covers the basic principles of Einstein's general theory of relativity, differential geometry, experimental tests of general relativity, black holes, and cosmology. (from ocw.mit.edu)

Lecture 18 - Cosmology I

Cosmology and cosmological spacetimes. This is the first spacetime we compute using a symmetry principle. By requiring that a spacetime be spatially maximally symmetric (i.e., that it have the largest number of possible Killing vectors), we constrain the functional form of its metric. Imposing the Einstein field equations, we develop a pair of simple equations that control how the overall scale of this spacetime evolves. The properties of the matter and energy which fill this universe then determine the universe's geometry and how it evolves with time.

Go to the Course Home or watch other lectures:

Lecture 01 - Introduction and the Geometric Viewpoint on Physics

Lecture 02 - Introduction to Tensors

Lecture 03 - Tensors (cont.)

Lecture 04 - Volumes and Volume Elements; Conservation Laws

Lecture 05 - The Stress Energy Tensor and the Christoffel Symbol

Lecture 06 - The Principle of Equivalence

Lecture 07 - The Principle of Equivalence (cont.); Parallel Transport

Lecture 08 - Lie Transport, Killing Vectors, Tensor Densities

Lecture 09 - Geodesics

Lecture 10 - Spacetime Curvature

Lecture 11 - More on Spacetime Curvature