Description

This textbook offers a concise but thorough treatment of the theory of special relativity for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students. Assuming no prior knowledge of relativity, the author elaborates the underlying logic and describes the subtleties and apparent paradoxes. The text also contains a large number of problems which cover the basic modes of thinking and calculating in special relativity. Emphasis is placed on developing the student's intuitive understanding of space-time geometry along with the necessary methods of four-tensor calculus, though three-dimensional methods are also described. This updated new edition contains additional examples and problems, and the chapter on relativistic mechanics of continua has been substantially rewritten.