Jonathan Bain
Dept. of Technology, Culture and Society
Tandon School of Engineering, New York University

STS-UY.3284 Relativity and Spacetime

Courses


Syllabus

Required online reading:

1.
[AM] Arntzenius, F. & T. Maudlin (2009) 'Time Travel and Modern Physics', in E. Zalta (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy <plato.stanford.edu/entries/time-travel-phys>.
2.
Curiel, E. (2019) 'Singularities and Black Holes', in E. Zalta (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy <plato.stanford.edu/entries/spacetime-singularities>.
3.
[EW] Earman, J.  C. Wuthrich, J. Manchak (2020)  'Time Machines', in E. Zalta (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy <plato.stanford.edu/entries/time-machine>.
4.
[F] Flores, F. (2019) 'The Equivalence of Mass and Energy', in E. Zalta (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy <plato.stanford.edu/entries/eqivME>.
5.
[J] Janus, A. (2018) 'Conventionality of Simultaneity', in E. Zalta (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy <plato.stanford.edu/entries/spacetime-convensimul>.
6.
[N] Norton, J. (2019) 'The Hole Argument', in E. Zalta (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy <plato.stanford.edu/entries/spacetime-holearg>.
7.
[Sav] Savitt, S. (2021) 'Being and Becoming in Modern Physics', in E. Zalta (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy <plato.stanford.edu/entries/spacetime-bebecome>.


Lecture Slides:
01. Survey of Pre-20th Cent Physics
02. Two Postulates
03. Simultaneity
04. Kinematic Effects
05. Dynamics - Momentum
06. Dynamics - Energy
07. Interpreting Special Relativity
08. Non-Euclidean Geometry
09. Geometrization of Gravity
10. The Einstein Equations
11. Interpreting General Relativity
12. Relativistic Cosmology
13. Black Holes: Part I
14. Black Holes: Part II
15. Black Hole Thermodynamics
16. Time Travel: Part I
17. Time Travel: Part II

Assignments:
hw1
hw2
hw3
hw4
hw5
hw6
hw7
hw8
hw9
hw10
hw11
hw12
ec1
ec2

Handouts
Curvature
Relativity of Simultaneity
Time Dilation
Paper topics
Paper guidelines

 Relevant articles in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
"Space and Time: Inertial Frames"
"Backward Causation"
"Absolute and Relational Theories of Space and Motion"
"Time"
"Early Philosophical Interpretations of General Relativity"
"Nineteenth Century Geometry"