Overview

This book is about the mathematical theory of light propagation in media on general-relativistic spacetimes. The first part discusses the transition from Maxwell's equations to ray optics. The second part establishes a general mathematical framework for treating ray optics as a theory in its own right, making extensive use of the Hamiltonian formalism. This part also includes a detailed discussion of variational principles (i.e., various versions of Fermat's principle) for light rays in general-relativistic media. Some applications, e.g. to gravitational lensing, are worked out. The reader is assumed to have some basic knowledge of general relativity and some familiarity with differential geometry. Some of the results are published here for the first time, e.g. a general-relativistic version of Fermat's principle for light rays in a medium that has to satisfy some regularity condition only.

Full Product Details

Author:   Volker Perlick
Publisher:   Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. KG
Imprint:   Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K
Edition:   Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2000
Volume:   61
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 1.20cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9783642086168

ISBN 10:   3642086160
Pages:   222
Publication Date:   15 May 2011
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of print, replaced by POD  
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Table of Contents

From Maxwell’s equations to ray optics.- to Part I.- Light propagation in linear dielectric and permeable media.- Light propagation in other kinds of media.- A mathematical framework for ray optics.- to Part II.- Ray-optical structures on arbitrary manifolds.- Ray-optical structures on Lorentzian manifolds.- Variational principles for rays.- Applications.

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