Individual course details
Study programme General physics
Chosen research area (module)  
Nature and level of studies Undergraduate Studies
Name of the course Introduction to theory of gravity
Professor (lectures) dr Duško Latas
Professor/associate (examples/practical)  
Professor/associate (additional)  
ECTS 3 Status (required/elective) elective
Access requirements Introduction to  theoretical mechanics
Aims of the course In this course elementary concepts of general relativity are introduced.
Learning outcomes After completion of the course, the student is familiar with the basic notions of the general relativity, understand the basic physical concepts and their experimental implications.
Contents of the course
Lectures 1. Flat spacetime, Minkowski diagrams. 2. Dynamics in Special Relativity. 3. Newton Law of Gravitation. The Equivalence Principle. 4. Apparent Forces, Motion in a Rotating, Relativistic
Reference Frame. 5. Metric. Curvature. Einstein Equations. 6. Curved Space-time. Geodesic Equations. 7. A Freely Falling Inertial Frame, Gravitational Red Shift. 8. Experimental Test of Gravitational Red Shift. 9. Gravitational Field of a Spherical Mass. The Schwarzschild Metric. 10. Trajectories in the Schwarzschild Spacetime. 11. Bending of Light in a Gravitational Field. 12. The Experimental Evidence for General Relativity. 13. Blach Holes. 14. Cosmology.
Examples/ practical classes  
Recommended books
1 John B. Kogut, Introduction to Relativity: For Physicists and Astronomers, Academic Press, 2001
2 Bernard Schutz, A First Course in General Relativity, Cambridge University Press, 2009
3 James B. Hartle, Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity, Addison-Wesley, 2003
4  
5  
Number of classes (weekly)
Lectures Examples&practicals   Student project Additional
2 0      
Teaching and learning methods Lecturing (theoretical elaboration, examples)
Assessment (maximal 100)
assesed coursework mark examination mark
coursework 10 written examination  
practicals   oral examination 50
papers      
presentations 40