Gravity as a Relativistic Effect

Modern scientific cosmology is one of the most impressive intellectual

achievements in the natural sciences.

A scientific approach of information from observations performed over

centuries, has led to a macroscopic description of the Universe based

on the laws of classical mechanics, thermodynamics and electromagnetism.

However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the advent of the

theories of relativity and quantum mechanics completely changed our

view on the physical world.

It was soon realised that Newton's classical description of gravity

was not in agreement with the principles of relativity.

Starting from the relativity postulates and basic principles, Einstein

derived his general theory of relativity which comprises a modern

description of gravity.

This new viewpoint allows for a scientific approach to describe the Universe

and its evolution by the behaviour of matter and light under the influence

of gravity. As such, this theory forms the basis of the current Standard

Model of cosmology and is employed in the interpretation of all observations.

A proper treatment of the general theory of relativity can only be achieved

by invoking a formal discussion based on tensor calculus.

However, to make the subject also available to students at the bachelor level

and at university colleges, a different approach has been used in this course.

By making use of symmetrical situations and sometimes taking the freedom of

using handwaving arguments instead of mathematical rigor, the basic aspects

of general relativity and gravitation are addressed without getting lost in

mathematical details.

The obtained expressions are exact and may be used to study the behaviour

of matter and radiation in the vicinity of isolated massive objects like

planets, (neutron) stars and black holes.

Lecture Notes :

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