Exploring black holes: general relativity & astrophysics

Lectures: 1 session / week, 1.5 hours / session
Recitations: 1 session / week, 1.5 hours / session

8.033 Relativity, or 8.20 Introduction to Special Relativity.

Weekly meetings include an evening seminar and recitation. The last third of the semester is reserved for collaborative research projects on topics such as the Global Positioning System, solar system tests of relativity, descending into a black hole, gravitational lensing, gravitational waves, Gravity Probe B, and more advanced models of the Cosmos.

The two texts for this class are:

Taylor, Edwin F., and John Archibald Wheeler. Exploring Black Holes: Introduction to General Relativity. Addison Wesley Longman, 2000, ISBN 9780201384239. Called "EBH" in all assignments. NOTE: You should have the fifth printing; the first number in the very bottom line of the Acknowledgments page (behind the title page) should be a 5.

Thorne, Kip. Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy. W. W. Norton, 1995, ISBN 9780393312768. Called "Thorne" in all assignments.

There is a weekly homework assignment due at the end of each week.

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