Einstein's Apple: Homogeneous Einstein Fields (ePub)

We lift a veil of obscurity from a branch of mathematical physics in a straightforward manner that can be understood by motivated and prepared undergraduate students as well as graduate students specializing in relativity. Our book on "Einstein Fields" clarifies Einstein's very first principle of equivalence (1907) that is the basis of his theory of gravitation. This requires the exploration of homogeneous Riemannian manifolds, a program that was suggested by Elie Cartan in "Riemannian Geometry in an Orthogonal Frame," a 2001 World Scientific publication.Einstein's first principle of equivalence, the key to his General Relativity, interprets homogeneous fields of acceleration as gravitational fields. The general theory of these "Einstein Fields" is given for the first time in our monograph and has never been treated in such exhaustive detail. This study has yielded significant new insights to Einstein's theory. The volume is heavily illustrated and is accessible to well-prepared undergraduate and graduate students as well as the professional physics community.Contents:"The Happiest Thought of My Life"Accelerated FramesTorsion and TelemotionInertial and Gravitational Fields in Minkowski SpacetimeThe Notion of TorsionHomogeneous Fields on Two-dimensional Riemannian ManifoldsHomogeneous Vector Fields in N-dimensionsHomogeneous Fields on Three-dimensional Spacetimes: Elementary CasesProper Lorentz TransformationsLimits of SpacetimesHomogeneous Fields in Minkowski SpacetimesEuclidean Three-dimensional SpacesHomogeneous Fields in Arbitrary DimensionSummaryReadership: Physics graduates, physicists, mathematicians, people interested in Einstein.Key Features:An introduction to the use of mathematical torsion and teleparallelism for general relativityElie Cartan's suggestions to an uncomprehending Einstein were initially overlooked but later used by him to explore possibilities for unified field theoriesOur presentation provides an introduction to torsion and its relation to gravitation considered too esoteric for most textbooks