Abstract
In the previous chapter we studied the movement of mass points in curved space–times. We gained insight into how the curvature of thespace–time affects the dynamics of mass points and light rays. In modern theoretical physics however, not particles but fields are the elements of nature. In this chapter we shall turn our attention to fields.We shall not build a field theory systematically, but introduce some basic notions that are essential for the further development of general relativity. Among these are the covariant derivative for arbitrary tensor fields, the stress-energy tensor, and some material on variation principles.
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© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Hájíček, P. (2008). Field Dynamics. In: An Introduction to the Relativistic Theory of Gravitation. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 750. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-78659-7_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-78659-7_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-78658-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-78659-7
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