If someone has studied calculus, what "instruments" or what fields does one still need to understand the formulas behind the 2 theories of relativity (special and general)? By understand I mean more that the general concept. Thanks in advance.
Asked
Active
Viewed 82 times
1
-
1everything is there : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_the_mathematics_of_general_relativity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_of_general_relativity you need to know the special relativity, and the differential manifolds, in particular the Riemann curvature tensor. – reuns Jul 15 '16 at 08:36
1 Answers
1
Multi-variable, vector and tensor calculus are the basics, differential geometry and Riemann geometry is also important. Besides mathematics, the basic electromagnetism is necessary.
Ng Chung Tak
- 18,990
-
-
@user1952009 Both SR and GR need EM. We need covariant formulation of EM in SR. We also need EM to derive the field equation in GR. – Ng Chung Tak Jul 15 '16 at 08:42
-
is it this : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_field_equations#Einstein.E2.80.93Maxwell_equations ? – reuns Jul 15 '16 at 08:44
-
-
well this is $E = mc^2$, but for understanding the Einstein equation at first we don't really care that the electromagnetism can be a source of space-time curvature too, isn't ? – reuns Jul 15 '16 at 08:54
-
-
Electrodynamics isn't a necessary requirement for GR, however I think most physicists agree knowledge of ED is necessary to be a physicist. But you can do GR and cosmology without it – Triatticus Jul 15 '16 at 15:47