Einstein's Relativity and Modern Cosmology

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• 6. The Special Theory of Relativity
  • Introduction
  • Enter Einstein
    • The first prediction: the speed of light and the demise of Newton's mechanics
    • The second prediction: Simultaneity is relative
      • The first murder mystery (ca. 1890)
      • The second murder mystery (ca. 2330)
    • The third prediction: The demise of Universal Time
    • Length contraction
    • Paradoxes.
    • Space and Time
    • The top speed.
    • Mass and energy.
• 7. The General Theory of Relativity
  • The happiest thought of my life.
    • Newton vs. Einstein
  • Gravitation vs acceleration
  • Light
  • Clocks in a gravitational force.
  • Black holes
  • Gravitation and energy
  • Space and time.
  • Properties of space and time.
  • Curvature
  • Waves
  • Summary.
  • Tests of general relativity.
    • Precession of the perihelion of Mercury
    • Gravitational red-shift.
    • Light bending
    • The double pulsar
• 8. The universe: size, origins, contents
  • Introduction
  • Light revisited
    • The inverse-square law
    • The Doppler effect
    • Emission and absorption lines
    • A happy marriage
  • Cosmic distance ladder
    • Step 1: distances up to 100 l.y.
    • Step 2: distances up to 300,000 l.y.
    • Step 3: distances up to 13,000,000 l.y.
    • Step 4: distances up to 1,000,000,000 l.y.
    • Step 5: distances beyond 1,000,000,000 l.y.
  • The relativistic universe
    • The expanding universe
      • And now what?
    • The Microwave Background Radiation
    • Nucleosynthesis
  • At the cutting edge
    • Dark matter
      • Neutrinos
    • The cosmological constant
    • Homogeneity and isotropy
      • Inflation
    • Summary
• 9. The lifes of a star
  • Introduction.
  • Stellar Power
  • The lifes of a star
    • In the beginning
    • A rising star
    • A Giant appears
    • And so it goes
      • Light stars
      • Medium-size stars
    • The heavyweights