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SINGULAR NULL HYPERSURFACES IN GENERAL RELATIVITY: LIGHT-LIKE SIGNALS FROM VIOLENT ASTROPHYSICAL EVENTS
Author(s):Peter A Hogan (Author), Claude Barrabes (Author)
- Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
- Publication Date: February 5, 2004
- Language: English
- Print length: 204 pages
- ISBN-10: 9812387374
- ISBN-13: 9789812387370
Book Description
This book presents a comprehensive and self-contained exposition of the mathematical theory of impulsive light-like signals in general relativity. Applications are provided in relativistic astrophysics, cosmology and alternative theories of gravity deduced from string theory. Cataclysmic astrophysical events give rise to impulsive light-like signals which can generally be decomposed into a thin shell of null matter and an impulsive gravitational wave. Several examples are considered in black hole physics, wave collisions and light-like boosts of compact gravitating sources.Graduate students and researchers in relativistic astrophysics, cosmology and string theory will find this book very useful.
Review
The book is clearly written and all details of the calculations are supplied. To read it with profit requires a first course in general relativity at the final undergraduate or first year graduate student level, but is otherwise rather accessible. It can be recommended without reservation to anyone seriously interested in General Relativity and should be on the shelves of any physics or mathematics library. It is a major contribution to the subject and is likely to become a classic reference.
