Physics 139

Special and General Relativity for Undergraduates

Spring, 2014

University of California, Berkeley

Instructor:  Robert Littlejohn
Office:  449 Birge
Office Hours:   Fri 1-2pm
Email:  physics139@wigner.berkeley.edu
GSI:  David Pinner david@wigner.berkeley.edu
Exam:  Monday, May 12, 2014, 11:30am-2:30pm, 241 Cory

Lecture:  241 Cory
Time:  TuTh 2-3:30
Discussion Section 1: M 11-12, 81 Evans
Discussion Section 2: Th 4-5, B56 Hildebrand
Text:   Hartle, Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity Addison-Wesley

Organization and Logistics

The email address for this course is physics139@wigner.berkeley.edu.   If you wish to be included on the mailing list for course announcements, homework notices, etc., send an email to this address with your name.   (You don't have to be enrolled.)  If you drop the course or don't want to receive any more announcements, send an email to this address with a request to be dropped. 

The course web site (this site) will be used to post lecture notes, special notes and homework assignments.

The grade will be based on weekly homework and a final exam. I leave open the possibility that there will be an oral exam instead of a written; it depends on the enrollment, and I will let you know by the beginning of April. 

Prerequisites include Physics 105 and 110A. If you do not have taken these prerequisites, you must have instructor's permission to enroll for this course.  

The course catalog describes this course as an introduction to special and general relativity. Special relativity is taught in Physics 110B, but that is not a prerequisite for this course. We will cover the minimum amount of special relativity needed to get going with general relativity, which is the main topic of the course. The course content will be taken from Hartle's book, but we do not have time to cover it all so we will have to select the topics we wish to cover.


Lecture Notes.


Homework assignments will normally be made available on this web site by Friday of each week, and will be due one week later, Friday at 5pm sharp, in the 139 homework box in the reading room, 251 LeConte.   Policy on Late Homework: Late homeworks will be accepted at 50% credit, up to one week late. Homeworks more than one week late will not be accepted.   Exception: Each student is allowed one free late homework (up to one week late), no questions asked. Please do not ask the reader to accept late homeworks. Just put them in the envelope; they will be processed when the reader can get to them.


Homework Solutions:



Supplemental Notes.