Richard Feynman

Feynman Lectures on Gravitation

Discussions on the lack of a full theory of quantum gravity generally dwell on the incompatibility between quantum theory and general relativity. In his Lectures on Gravitation Richard Feynman takes a different approach. He starts off by ignoring GR and trying to quantize the gravitational field, and then shows that his results match up with the geometrical theory of GR. The book benefits from Feynman's unique presentation - he explains the 'why' of choices made in physics and explores possible alternatives. It will be of particular interest to those readers wishing to get a background to the current arguments about theories of quantum gravity.

Note that this book is based on a course given for postdoctoral researchers, and is at a much higher level than Feynman's other Lectures. The first part (lectures 1 - 6) consists of some pretty technical quantum field theory, showing why the gravition has to be a spin 2 particle, and how this differs from other quantum fields. The second part (7 - 10) deals with Einstein's equations for general relativity. The last part (11 - 16) is somewhat simpler, looking at some of the applications of these equations. Unfortunately this part has largely been superceded, as it came just before the 'golden age' of general relativity.

Amazon.com info

Paperback 272 pages
ISBN: 0813340381
Salesrank: 234257
Weight:0.88 lbs

Published: 2002 Westview Press

Amazon price $36.00

Marketplace:New from $36.00:Used from $34.88

Buy from Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk info

Paperback 272 pages
ISBN: 0140284508
Salesrank: 717758

Published: 1999 Penguin Books Ltd

Marketplace::Used from £16.49

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.ca info

Paperback 272 pages
ISBN: 0813340381
Salesrank: 412341
Weight:0.88 lbs

Published: 2002 Westview Press

Amazon price CDN$ 42.95

Marketplace:New from CDN$ 42.95:Used from CDN$ 116.81

Buy from Amazon.ca

Product Description
The Feynman Lectures on Gravitation are based on notes prepared during a course on gravitational physics that Richard Feynman taught at Caltech during the 1962-63 academic year. For several years prior to these lectures, Feynman thought long and hard about the fundamental problems in gravitational physics, yet he published very little. These lectures represent a useful record of his viewpoints and some of his insights into gravity and its application to cosmology, superstars, wormholes, and gravitational waves at that particular time. The lectures also contain a number of fascinating digressions and asides on the foundations of physics and other issues.Characteristically, Feynman took an untraditional non-geometric approach to gravitation and general relativity based on the underlying quantum aspects of gravity. Hence, these lectures contain a unique pedagogical account of the development of Einstein’s general theory of relativity as the inevitable result of the demand for a self-consistent theory of a massless spin-2 field (the graviton) coupled to the energy-momentum tensor of matter. This approach also demonstrates the intimate and fundamental connection between gauge invariance and the principle of equivalence.

Product Description

The Feynman Lectures on Gravitation are based on notes prepared during a course on gravitational physics that Richard Feynman taught at Caltech during the 1962-63 academic year. For several years prior to these lectures, Feynman thought long and hard about the fundamental problems in gravitational physics, yet he published very little. These lectures represent a useful record of his viewpoints and some of his insights into gravity and its application to cosmology, superstars, wormholes, and gravitational waves at that particular time. The lectures also contain a number of fascinating digressions and asides on the foundations of physics and other issues.Characteristically, Feynman took an untraditional non-geometric approach to gravitation and general relativity based on the underlying quantum aspects of gravity. Hence, these lectures contain a unique pedagogical account of the development of Einstein’s general theory of relativity as the inevitable result of the demand for a self-consistent theory of a massless spin-2 field (the graviton) coupled to the energy-momentum tensor of matter. This approach also demonstrates the intimate and fundamental connection between gauge invariance and the principle of equivalence.

A brief review *****
The original Feynman's point of view about world is always matter of greatest interest. He deeply investigate, as ever he did, the principles of gravitation theory and beyond.

A brief review *****

The original Feynman's point of view about world is always matter of greatest interest. He deeply investigate, as ever he did, the principles of gravitation theory and beyond.

Fascinating *****
This is a wonderful book which shows how a classical field theory like General Relativity can be derived from a quantum field theory. It also points out the extreme difficulty of accomplishing this in the case of gravity and ending up with a consistent, anomaly free theory. Readers of this book will benefit from familiarity with both quantum field theory and relativity as well as a certain amount of mathematical sophistication. Don't be fooled by the similarity of title to other "Feynman Lectures on..." because this book is based on an upper level graduate physics course and assumes the background of a typical PhD student in physics. Deep, complex and difficult going but well worth the effort to see the elegance of the connection between General Relativity and QFT.

Fascinating *****

This is a wonderful book which shows how a classical field theory like General Relativity can be derived from a quantum field theory. It also points out the extreme difficulty of accomplishing this in the case of gravity and ending up with a consistent, anomaly free theory.

Readers of this book will benefit from familiarity with both quantum field theory and relativity as well as a certain amount of mathematical sophistication. Don't be fooled by the similarity of title to other "Feynman Lectures on..." because this book is based on an upper level graduate physics course and assumes the background of a typical PhD student in physics.

Deep, complex and difficult going but well worth the effort to see the elegance of the connection between General Relativity and QFT.

General relativity as a quantum gauge field theory. *****
Feynman gave a series of lectures on gravitation at a graduate seminar at Caltech in 1962. The lectures were recorded and transcribed by Morinigo and Wagner. A very readable introduction on quantum gravity was added by the editor, Brian Hatfield (whose book on quantum field theory and strings, I also recommend.) This is the only book I've seen which develops GR from a quantum field theory point of view. Feynman's lectures show that the GR field equations result from the requirement of gauge invariance under Lorentz transformations for a massless spin-2 field (i.e graviton). This is a more fundamental approach than the usual differential geometric framework and shows what the equivalence principle really means in terms of fundamental symmetries. Highly recommended for a modern field theory viewpoint of GR.

General relativity as a quantum gauge field theory. *****

Feynman gave a series of lectures on gravitation at a graduate seminar at Caltech in 1962. The lectures were recorded and transcribed by Morinigo and Wagner. A very readable introduction on quantum gravity was added by the editor, Brian Hatfield (whose book on quantum field theory and strings, I also recommend.) This is the only book I've seen which develops GR from a quantum field theory point of view. Feynman's lectures show that the GR field equations result from the requirement of gauge invariance under Lorentz transformations for a massless spin-2 field (i.e graviton). This is a more fundamental approach than the usual differential geometric framework and shows what the equivalence principle really means in terms of fundamental symmetries. Highly recommended for a modern field theory viewpoint of GR.

Surely You're NOT joking, Mr Feynamn ***
I tend to think that this book is not a good place for a beginning student (like me) to learn the modern geometrical formulation of general relativity. But the "notes" are pervaded of Feynman's spirit, they contain a number of fascinating digressions and..well, if you already know Feynman's behaviour through his books, you can't lose this!

Surely You're NOT joking, Mr Feynamn ***

I tend to think that this book is not a good place for a beginning student (like me) to learn the modern geometrical formulation of general relativity. But the "notes" are pervaded of Feynman's spirit, they contain a number of fascinating digressions and..well, if you already know Feynman's behaviour through his books, you can't lose this!