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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