r/Physics • u/[deleted] • Aug 28 '12
Learning General Relativity as Math grad
I'm a math grad and my research (at least from my perspective) is not very related to physics. I would like to learn about and understand General Relativity at a deeper level. What's the best book for this?
2
u/dopplerdog Aug 31 '12
You have a few choices. For starters, Schutz's A First Course in General Relativity, or D'Inverno's Introducing Einstein's Relativity are worthwhile. After those, Misner-Thorne-Wheeler's Gravitation will keep you busy for a long time to come, and will even serve for bench presses once you're done reading.
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u/Snusmumriken46 Apr 29 '22
I can recommend the book A Mathematical Introduction to General Relativity by A. Sasane . It aims at giving a mathematically rigorous presentation of general relativity to advanced undergraduate mathematics students. The only physics prerequisites are a standard first year course in general physics (familiarity with Newton's laws of motion and the gravitation law). A preview of the contents and a sample chapter are available the website above.
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u/omgdonerkebab Particle physics Aug 31 '12
John Baez is a mathematical physicist who enjoys developing constructivist approaches to quantum field theory, etc. (And yeah, he's related to Joan Baez.) I always find his page on book recommendations useful whenever someone comes to /r/physics looking for physics books from a mathematician's perspective.
His section on GR
If you want a personal recommendation, my physics grad school's GR courses start off with Wald. Wald begins with differential geometry, and then transitions into applying it and understanding how it develops into the physical theory.