Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors: | Ellis, George F. R. (George Francis Rayner), author.
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ISBN: | 9781139811699 113981169X 9780511524646 0511524641 1139635638 9781139635639 1107188792 9781107188792 1139811223 9781139811224 1139811444 9781139811446 0511935145 9780511935145 1283870762 9781283870764 1139811568 9781139811569 0521200164 9780521200165 0521099064 9780521099066
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Digital file characteristics: | data file
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Notes: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 373-380) and index. English. Print version record.
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Summary: | Einstein's General Theory of Relativity leads to two remarkable predictions: first, that the ultimate destiny of many massive stars is to undergo gravitational collapse and to disappear from view, leaving behind a 'black hole' in space; and secondly, that there will exist singularities in space-time itself. These singularities are places where space-time begins or ends, and the presently known laws of physics break down. They will occur inside black holes, and in the past are what might be construed as the beginning of the universe. To show how these predictions arise, the authors discuss the General Theory of Relativity in the large. Starting with a precise formulation of the theory and an account of the necessary background of differential geometry, the significance of space-time curvature is discussed and the global properties of a number of exact solutions of Einstein's field equations are examined. The theory of the causal structure of a general space-time is developed, and is used to study black holes and to prove a number of theorems establishing the inevitability of singualarities under certain conditions. A discussion of the Cauchy problem for General Relativity is also included in this 1973 book.
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Other form: | Print version: Hawking, S.W. (Stephen W.). Large scale structure of space-time. Cambridge [England] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1973 0521200164
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