General Relativity

General relativity is discussed in this book at a level appropriate to undergraduate students of physics and astronomy. It describes concepts and experimental results, and provides a succinct account of formalism. A brief review of special relativity is followed by a discussion of the equivalence principle and its implications. Other topics covered include concepts of curvature and the Schwarzschild metric, tests of the general theory, black holes and their properties, gravitational radiation and methods for its detection, the impact of general relativity on cosmology, and the continuing search for a quantum theory of gravity. The book also contains a set of worked examples, background appendices, and an annotated bibliography.