organized by the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute).

The Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) offers a crash course on Gravitational Physics, General Relativity, Black Holes and Gravitational-Wave Astrophysics. This course can be attended by students studying from the 5th semester Physics or Mathematics.

The spring school will first introduce general relativity; we will then discuss black holes, gravitational waves, cosmology, quantum field theory, and quantum gravity. We will cover in particular the recent discoveries of merging black hole and neutron star. We also give insights into current research at the institute, both related to gravitational waves and beyond.

Lectures will take place daily during the morning. In the afternoons, we provide exercises and the opportunity for questions and discussions. We also plan two excursions to sights in the vicinity of Potsdam.

The Jürgen Ehlers Spring School takes place at the Max Planck campus in Potsdam. Potsdam is the capital of the state of Brandenburg and hosts multiple UNESCO World-Heritage Sites. It lies in close proximity to Berlin.

Information on how to get to the Max Planck campus in Potsdam can be found here.

Address

Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics
Am Mühlenberg 1
14476 Potsdam

Contact

E-Mail: 

Prerequisites

A working knowledge of introductory university physics (classical mechanics, electromagnetism), and mathematics (advanced calculus, linear algebra) will be assumed. Some prior exposure to differential geometry is desirable but not required.

Abstracts

Week 1: Introduction to General Relativity, the Theory of Black Holes, and Cosmology

The first week’s lectures will be devoted to the study of Einstein’s theory of General Relativity and the theoretical foundations for black holes. The lectures will be also devoted to Cosmology.

Week 2: Gravitational-Wave Astronomy and Quantum Gravity

This week will give an overview of gravitational-wave astronomy. Topics include the theory of gravitational waves and a discussion of the major astrophysical sources of gravitational waves, most notably inspiraling compact object binaries (i.e. black holes or neutron stars). We will also offer a lecture on quantum field theory and quantum gravity.

Schedule

Week 1: Introduction to General relativity, the Theory of Black Holes, and Cosmology

	Mon 26/2	Tue 27/2	Wed 28/2	Thu 29/2	Fri 1/3
9:15 – 10:45	General Relativity Sebastian Völkel	General Relativity Sebastian Völkel	General Relativity Sebastian Völkel	Black Holes Karim van Aelst	Cosmology Jean-Luc Lehners
11:00 – 12:30	General Relativity Sebastian Völkel	General Relativity Sebastian Völkel	General Relativity Sebastian Völkel	Black Holes Karim von Aelst	Cosmology Jean-Luc Lehners
Lunch
14:00 – 15:30	Exercises	Colloquium Alberto Sesana	Excursion	Exercises	Exercises
15:45 – 17:15	Exercises		Excursion	Exercises	Exercises
evening	Reception

Week 2: Gravitational-Wave Astronomy and Quantum Gravity

	Mon 4/3	Tue 5/3	Wed 6/3	Thu 7/3	Fri 8/3
9:15 – 10:45	Gravitational waves Elisa Maggio	Gravitational waves Elisa Maggio	Gravitational waves Elisa Maggio	Gravitational waves data analysis Héctor Estellés	Classical Gravity from Quantum Field Theory Gustav Mogull
11:00 – 12:30	Gravitational waves Elisa Maggio	Gravitational waves Elisa Maggio	Gravitational waves Elisa Maggio	Gravitational waves data analysis Héctor Estellés	Quantum Gravity Hermann Nicolai
Lunch
14:00 – 15:30	Exercises with Elise Sänger	Supernova and neutron star formation Takami Kuroda	Excursion	Exercises
15:45 – 17:15	Exercises with Elise Sänger		Excursion	Exercises
evening

The excursions will go to the Einstein Tower in Potsdam and the Einstein summer house in Caputh.

Complementary Reading

Introduction to general relativity and the theory of black holes

• Bernard F. Schutz, A first course in General Relativity
• James Hartle, Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein’s General Relativity
• Ray D’Inverno, James Vickers, Introducing Einstein’s Relativity: A Deeper Understanding
• Kip S. Thorne, Roger D. Blandford, Modern Classical Physics, Volume 5 (Relativity and Cosmology)/ Part VII
• Michael Hobson, George Efstathiou, Anthony Lasenby, General Relativity (An introduction for physicists)

Gravitational waves

• Eanna Flanagan, Scott A. Hughes, S., The Basics of Gravitational Wave Theory
  http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005NJPh….7..204F
• • B. P. Abbott et al. (The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration), The basic physics of the binary black hole merger
  GW150914  https://arxiv.org/abs/1608.01940
• • B. P. Abbott et al. (The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration), Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger,
  https://arxiv.org/abs/1602.03837
  https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102

Cosmology

• Weinberg, S., Cosmology

Organizers

• Kenta Kiuchi
• Axel Kleinschmidt
• Jan Steinhoff