25
General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 [email protected]

General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 [email protected]

  • View
    216

  • Download
    2

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

General RelativityPhysics Honours 2005

Dr Geraint F. LewisRm 557, A29

[email protected]

Page 2: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Prior Knowledge Differential Equations Special Relativity Lagrangian Mechanics Maxwell’s Equations

This course is structured slightly differently to other GR courses. You will gain a working knowledge of GR before you are presented with a formal definition of tensors and the derivation of the field equations.

Page 3: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

TextbooksIntroducing Einstein’s Relativity à Course Book

R. D’Inverno

Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein’s GR

J. B. Hartle

Spacetime and GeometryS. M. Carroll

A First Course in GRB. F. Schutz

Page 4: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Introducing Einstein’s Relativity Special Relativity

2.1*, 2.2-2.6, 2.7-2.8*, 2.9-2.13, 3.1-3.10, 4.1-4.2*, 4.3-4.5 Formalism of Tensors

5.1-5.2, 5.3*, 5.4-5.8, 5.9*, 6.1-6.12, 7.1-7.3, 7.5* General Relativity

8.1-8.5, 8.8, 9.1-9.7, 10.1-10.7, 12.1-12.6, 12.9-12.10 13.1-13.4, 14.1-14.3*, 14.4-14.6, 15.1-15.7, 15.8-15.9*, 15.10

Black Holes 16.1-16.11, 16.12*, 17.1-17.5, 18.1-18.3, 18.5, 19.2*, 19.3-19.5

Gravitational Waves 20.1-20.4, 20.9

Cosmology 22.1-22.12, 23.1-23.3, 23.17, 23.18

* means review & self-study

Page 5: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Additional Resources http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/Lecture/ http://spacetimeandgeometry.net/ “A no-nonsense introduction to general relativity” by Sean

Carroll (http://pancake.uchicago.edu/~carroll/notes) “Living Reviews in Relativity”

(http://www.livingreviews.org) “The meaning of Einstein’s equations” by John Baez and

Emory Bunn (arxiv.org/gr-qc/0103044) Preprint archive (http://www.arxiv.org) Type “general relativity” etc into google.

Page 6: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

AssessmentFinal exam (80%)

Three assignments (20%)

Assignments are due at the start of the lecture on the specified date. Late assignments will be penalized 20% for each day they are late. Assignments more than one week late will not be accepted without a formal special consideration.

Postgraduate students must achieve >70% on all assignments and will sit the exam in an open book environment.

Page 7: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

The Newtonian Framework (2.3) An Event occurs at a point in space and instant in time. Events do not move. The motion of a particle can be represented by a world-line,

or collection of events specified by r and t (Fig 2.2). An observer is equipped with a clock and measuring rod. All observers agree on t: time is absolute. Each observer can set up coordinates (t,x,y,z) to describe the

location of events (with t the same for all observers).

Page 8: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Galilean TransformationsNewtonian mechanics argues that there are preferred frames of reference, the unaccelerated inertial frames.

Observers can transform between the coordinates of an event in different inertial frames with Galilean Transformations. If the frames S and S’ have collinear x-axes (Fig 2.5) then;

'

'

''

'

zz

yy

vtxx

tt

where S’ moves along the x-axis with constant velocity v.

Page 9: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Newtonian RelativityNewtonian theory we can only determine:

• events relative to other events

• velocity of a body relative to another body

Hence Newtonian theory makes the following postulate

All inertial observers are equivalent as far as dynamical experiments are concerned.

However, this is in conflict with Maxwell’s equations.

Page 10: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Special Relativity

Einstein extended Newtonian relativity into The Principle of Special Relativity;

All inertial observers are equivalent

As Maxwell’s equations provide a single wave solution, with a velocity c, Einstein proposed the postulate of the constancy of the speed of light.

The velocity of light in free space is the same for all inertial observers.

Page 11: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Special Relativity (Review Chapter 2)

A new composition law for velocities (Eqn 2.6)

BCAB

BCABAC vv

vvv

1

where v in units of the speed of light (c). Note that if the velocities are «1 then this becomes the Newtonian formula.

How does this behave if one of the velocities is c?

Page 12: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Special RelativityEinstein considered a simple thought experiment to examine the implications of the constancy of the speed of light (Fig 2.13).

In classical physics both observers A & B would agree that the two events occurred simultaneously.

However, as c is a constant to all observers, A & B now disagree on the simultaneous nature of the two events, removing the notion of an absolute time.

We can consider the order of events in terms of a light cone or null cone (Fig 2.14).

Page 13: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Lorentz Transforms

zzyyv

vtxx

v

vxtt

''

1'

1'

22

The Lorentz transformations are the SR versions of the Galilean transformations. Considering motion in the x-direction (Fig 2.17);

It can be seen that the squared interval (pp.25-26);

222222222 '''' zyxtzyxts

is invariant under Lorentz transformations.

Page 14: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

4-Dimensional Space-time

In Newtonian physics we can use the Euclidian distance to measure the separation of two events, with time kept separate.

With relativistic space-time, we use the interval squared

22222 dzdydxdtds

This geometry is known as Minkowski space-time; intervals in this space-time can be negative.

Note, different books have different sign conventions for ds2

Page 15: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Matrix Representation

We can write the transformation between two frames S and S’ as

where L is a 4x4 matrix (Ch 3).

By considering a new variable T=i ct then the Lorentz transformations can be seen as rotations in the x-T plane (although this complex time formalism is frowned upon by some. See Fig 3.6 for a more accurate description).

Page 16: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Length Contraction

Consider a rod fixed in S’ with ends at xA’ and xB

’ a distance lo apart. The distance l as measured in S is given by;

where = ( 1 - v2/c2 )-1/2 (Note textbooks non-standard use of rather than !).

Hence the length in S is less than the length in S’. This effect is entirely reciprocal.

Page 17: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Time DilationSuppose a clock fixed at x=x’A in S’ records two events separated by an interval To.

Hence, more time is measured to pass in S than in S’, a phenomenon known as time dilation. The time measured in the rest frame of the clock is known as the proper time. Again, the effect is reciprocal between frames.

Page 18: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Clock HypothesisThe clock hypothesis asserts that will measure a proper time of even in non-inertial frames of

where t is the time in some inertial system and v is the velocity measured in that system. This has been flying atomic clocks around the world.

It is instructive to read about the twin paradox!

Page 19: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Velocity Transformations (again)Consider a particle in motion along x with velocity u in S, and u’ along x’ in S’ (Fig 3.5). Differentials of the Lorentz transforms give

You should check the effects on transverse velocities yourself.

Replacing u with u’ and v with –v transforms between S’ and S.

Page 20: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Accelerations

We can calculate accelerations in a similar fashion, using

the relations accelerations in S and S’ are

Page 21: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Accelerations

We cannot assume du/dt = constant as velocities >c would occur.

Instead we consider a instantaneous comoving frame in which the accelerating body is at rest (u’=0) with an acceleration a.

The final form is a hyperbola on the x-t plane (Fig 3.8).

Page 22: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

Accelerations

For the case where xo – c2/a = to = 0 the null cone becomes an event horizon and a light ray sent out from O at times t>to will never be received by the accelerating particle.

In fact the event horizon defines two regions of the universe where particles accelerating away from one another can never communicate (why?).

More about event horizons when we examine black holes.

Page 23: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

The Doppler EffectA source in a frame S’, moving at radial velocity ur, emits pulses separated by a time dt’. Due to the effects of time dilation, S infers that the pulses are separated by dt = dt’.

But how often does S receive the pulses?

In a time dt the source has moved by ur dt = ur dt’ and the pulses have to travel more distance back to the source.

Hence, pulses are received at S with a time separation of

Page 24: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

The Doppler Effect

Using o = c dt’ and = c dt then

For purely radial motion

Page 25: General Relativity Physics Honours 2005 Dr Geraint F. Lewis Rm 557, A29 gfl@physics.usyd.edu.au

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gfl/

Lecture

The Doppler Effect

However, purely tangential motion results in the transverse Doppler shift.

This purely relativistic effect (it is due to time dilation) has been experimentally verified to high accuracy.