By focusing on the mostly used variational methods, this monograph aspires to give a unified description and comparison of various ways of constructing conserved quantities for perturbations and to study symmetries in general relativity and modified theories of gravity. The main emphasis lies on the field-theoretical covariant formulation of perturbations, the canonical Noether approach and the Belinfante procedure of symmetrisation. The general formalism is applied to build the gauge-invariant cosmological perturbation theory, conserved currents and superpotentials to describe physically important solutions of gravity theories. Meticulous attention is given to the construction of conserved quantities in asymptotically-flat spacetimes as well as in asymptotically constant curvature spacetimes such as the Anti-de Sitter space. Significant part of the book can be used in graduate courses on conservation laws in general relativity. THE SERIES: DE GRUYTER STUDIES IN MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS The series is devoted to the publication of monographs and high-level texts in mathematical physics. They cover topics and methods in fields of current interest, with an emphasis on didactical presentation. The series will enable readers to understand, apply, and develop further, with sufficient rigor, mathematical methods to given problems in physics. The works in this series are aimed at advanced students and researchers in mathematical and theoretical physics. They can also serve as secondary reading for lectures and seminars at advanced levels.

A comprehensive review of the testing and research conducted on Einstein's theory of general relativity.

Bringing together some of the top researchers gravitational physics, the 1990 Banff Summer Institute on Gravitation focussed on three of the most exciting areas of research in this subject today: Cosmology, Quantum Gravity and Tests of Gravitational Theory. Besides covering the most up-to-date developments, special emphasis was placed upon the interdisciplinary aspects of each of these topics. The pedagogical character of the lectures is designed to bring graduate students up to the forefront of research.

Relativity theory has become one of the icons of Twentieth Century science. It's reckoned to be a difficult subject, taught as a layered series of increasingly difficult mathematics and increasingly abstract concepts. We're told that relativity theory is supposed to be this complicated and counter-intuitive. But how much of this historical complexity is really necessary? Can we bypass the interpretations and paradoxes and pseudoparadoxes of Einstein's special theory and jump directly to a deeper and more intuitive description of reality? What if curvature is a fundamental part of physics, and a final theory of relativity shouldn't reduce to Einstein's "flat" 1905 theory //on principle//? "Relativity..." takes us on a whistlestop tour of Twentieth Century physics - from black holes, quantum mechanics, wormholes and the Big Bang to the workings of the human mind, and asks: what would physics look like without special relativity? 394 printed pages, 234156 mm, 200 figures and illustrations, includes bibliography and index www.relativitybook.com

General Relativity provides an unusually broad survey of the current state of this field. Chapters on mathematical relativity cover many topics, including initial value problems, a new approach to the partial differential equations of physics, and work on exact solutions. The chapters on relativistic cosmology and black holes explore cosmology. Other chapters deal with gravitational waves, experimental relativity, quantum gravity, and aspects of computing in relativity. The book will be useful both to postgraduates and to established workers in the field.

This updated and revised third edition of the leading reference volume on distance metrics includes new items from very active research areas in the use of distances and metrics such as geometry, graph theory, probability theory and analysis. Among the new topics included are, for example, polyhedral metric space, nearness matrix problems, distances between belief assignments, distance-related animal settings, diamond-cutting distances, natural units of length, Heidegger’s de-severance distance, and brain distances. The publication of this volume coincides with intensifying research efforts into metric spaces and especially distance design for applications. Accurate metrics have become a crucial goal in computational biology, image analysis, speech recognition and information retrieval. Leaving aside the practical questions that arise during the selection of a ‘good’ distance function, this work focuses on providing the research community with an invaluable comprehensive listing of the main available distances. As well as providing standalone introductions and definitions, the encyclopedia facilitates swift cross-referencing with easily navigable bold-faced textual links to core entries. In addition to distances themselves, the authors have collated numerous fascinating curiosities in their Who’s Who of metrics, including distance-related notions and paradigms that enable applied mathematicians in other sectors to deploy research tools that non-specialists justly view as arcane. In expanding access to these techniques, and in many cases enriching the context of distances themselves, this peerless volume is certain to stimulate fresh research.

By focusing on the mostly used variational methods, this monograph aspires to give a unified description and comparison of various ways of constructing conserved quantities for perturbations and to study symmetries in general relativity and modified theories of gravity. The main emphasis lies on the field-theoretical covariant formulation of perturbations, the canonical Noether approach and the Belinfante procedure of symmetrisation. The general formalism is applied to build the gauge-invariant cosmological perturbation theory, conserved currents and superpotentials to describe physically important solutions of gravity theories. Meticulous attention is given to the construction of conserved quantities in asymptotically-flat spacetimes as well as in asymptotically constant curvature spacetimes such as the Anti-de Sitter space. Significant part of the book can be used in graduate courses on conservation laws in general relativity. THE SERIES: DE GRUYTER STUDIES IN MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS The series is devoted to the publication of monographs and high-level texts in mathematical physics. They cover topics and methods in fields of current interest, with an emphasis on didactical presentation. The series will enable readers to understand, apply, and develop further, with sufficient rigor, mathematical methods to given problems in physics. The works in this series are aimed at advanced students and researchers in mathematical and theoretical physics. They can also serve as secondary reading for lectures and seminars at advanced levels.

This volume contains the Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute "Quantum Optics and Experimental General Relativity" which was held in Bad Windsheim, Federal Republic of Germany, from August 16 to 29, 1981. At first glance, one might wonder why a meeting should cover these two topics, and a good bit of quantum measurement theory as well, all of which seem to be completely unrelated. The key to what one may call this grand unification lies in the effort, underway in a number of laboratories around the world, to detect gravitational radiation. Present research is pursuing the development of two types of detectors: laser interferometers and resonant bar detectors. Be cause the signals that one is trying to measure are so weak the quan tum mechanical nature of the detectors comes into play. The analy sis of the effects which result from this is facilitated by the use of techniques which have been developed in quantum optics over the years. This analysis also forces one to confront certain issues in the quantum theory of measurement. The laser interferometer detectors, using as they do light, are clearly within the realm of subjects usually considered by quantum optics. For example, the analysis of the noise present in such a de tector can make use of the many techniques which have been developed in quantum optics.

This book features a comprehensive review of experimental gravitation. It is a textbook based on the graduate courses on “Experimental Gravitation” given by the authors at their respective universities in Rome: Sapienza and Tor Vergata. A number of different research topics in the field are covered: from the torsion pendulum (still today the tool of choice for measuring small forces or torques) to the large interferometers developed to observe gravitational waves. Techniques that are still under development are also discussed, like the pulsar timing array and space-based detectors of the future. This book is written by experimentalists for experimentalists. While the background physics is summarized for less experienced readers, the emphasis is certainly on experimental verifications: the strategy, the apparatuses, the data analysis and the results of many cornerstone experiments are analyzed and discussed in depth. This textbook serves as a useful resource for both graduate students and professionals working in the increasingly vibrant field of experimental gravity.