Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface to the First Edition
- Preface to the Second Edition
- A note on the choice of metric
- Text website
- Part 1 Effective field theory: the StandardModel, supersymmetry, unification
- Part 2 Supersymmetry
- 9 Supersymmetry
- 10 A first look at supersymmetry breaking
- 11 The Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model
- 12 Supersymmetric grand unification
- 13 Supersymmetric dynamics
- 14 Dynamical supersymmetry breaking
- 15 Theories with more than four conserved supercharges
- 16 More supersymmetric dynamics
- 17 An introduction to general relativity
- 18 Cosmology
- 19 Particle astrophysics and inflation
- Part 3 String theory
- Part 4 Appendices
- References
- Index
17 - An introduction to general relativity
from Part 2 - Supersymmetry
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface to the First Edition
- Preface to the Second Edition
- A note on the choice of metric
- Text website
- Part 1 Effective field theory: the StandardModel, supersymmetry, unification
- Part 2 Supersymmetry
- 9 Supersymmetry
- 10 A first look at supersymmetry breaking
- 11 The Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model
- 12 Supersymmetric grand unification
- 13 Supersymmetric dynamics
- 14 Dynamical supersymmetry breaking
- 15 Theories with more than four conserved supercharges
- 16 More supersymmetric dynamics
- 17 An introduction to general relativity
- 18 Cosmology
- 19 Particle astrophysics and inflation
- Part 3 String theory
- Part 4 Appendices
- References
- Index
Summary
Even as the evidence for the Standard Model became stronger and stronger in the 1970s and beyond, so the evidence for general relativity grew in the latter half of the twentieth century. Any discussion of the Standard Model and physics beyond it must confront Einstein's theory at two levels. First, general relativity and the Standard Model are very successful at describing the history of the universe and its present behavior on large scales. General relativity gives rise to the big bang theory of cosmology, which, coupled with our understanding of atomic and nuclear physics, explains – indeed predicted – features of the observed universe. But there are features of the observed universe which cannot be accounted for within the Standard Model and general relativity. These include dark matter and dark energy, the origin of the asymmetry between matter and antimatter, the origin of the seeds of cosmic structure (inflation) and more. Apart from these observational difficulties, there are also serious questions of principle. We cannot simply add Einstein's theory onto the Standard Model. The resulting structure is not renormalizable and cannot represent in any sense a complete theory. Black holes, when combined with quantum mechanics, raise further puzzles. In this book we will encounter both these aspects of Einstein's theory. Within extensions of the Standard Model, in the next few chapters we will attempt to explain some features of the observed universe. The second, more theoretical, level is addressed in the third part of this book. String theory, our most promising framework for a comprehensive theory of all interactions, encompasses general relativity in an essential way; some would even argue that what we mean by string theory is the quantum theory of general relativity.
The purpose of this chapter is to introduce some concepts and formulas that are essential to the applications of general relativity in this text. No previous knowledge of general relativity is assumed. We will approach the subject from the perspective of field theory, focusing on the dynamical degrees of freedom and the equations of motion. We will not give as much attention to the beautiful – and conceptually critical – geometric aspects of the subject, though we will return to some of these in the chapters on string theory.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Supersymmetry and String TheoryBeyond the Standard Model, pp. 231 - 244Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2016