Physics 255: Einstein's General Relativity and Gravitation
Physics 255: Einstein's General Relativity and Gravitation (Spring 2014, UC Irvine). Instructor: Professor Herbert W. Hamber. This course provides an introduction to Einstein's theory of gravitation, covering topics: a history of gravity, tensor analysis, Einstein's field equations, astronomical tests of Einstein's theory, and gravitational waves. References used for the class include "Gravitation and Cosmology" by S. Weinberg, "Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity" by J. Hartle, "Lectures on Gravitation" by R.P. Feynman and "Quantum Gravitation" by H.W. Hamber.
| Lecture 16 - Solutions to the Field Equations 3 |
Topics: Weak and Strong Gravitational Fields, The Weak Field Expansion, Choice of Background Metric, Linear Part of the Ricci Tensor, Local Gauge Invariance, Gauge Conditions, Wave Equation and Explicit Solution in Terms of Retarded Potentials, Plane Wave Solution, Polarization Amplitudes, Transverse Traceless Modes as Physical Modes, Spin Two of the Graviton
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