This is the second edition of a well-received book that is a modern, self-contained introduction to the theory of gravitational interactions. The new edition includes more details on gravitational waves of cosmological origin, the so-called brane world scenario, and gravitational time-delay effects.

The first part of the book follows the traditional presentation of
general relativity as a geometric theory of the macroscopic gravitational
field, while the second, more advanced part discusses the deep analogies (and
differences) between a geometric theory of gravity and the gauge theories of
the other fundamental interactions. This fills a gap within the traditional
approach to general relativity which usually leaves students puzzled about the
role of gravity. The required notions of differential geometry are reduced to
the minimum, allowing room for aspects of gravitational physics of current
phenomenological and theoretical interest, such as the properties of
gravitational waves, the gravitational interactions of spinors, and the
supersymmetric and higher-dimensional generalization of the Einstein equations.

This textbook is primarily intended for students pursuing a theoretical or astroparticle curriculum but is also relevant for PhD students and young researchers.

Elementary
Notions of Relativistic Field Theory.- Towards a Relativistic Theory of
Gravity.- Tensor Calculus in a Riemann Manifold.- Maxwell Equations and Riemann
Geometry.- Test Bodies and Signals in a Riemann Space-Time.- Geodesic Deviation
and Curvature Tensor.- The Einstein Equations for the Gravitational Field.- The
Weak-Field Approximation.- Gravitational Waves.- The Schwarzschild Solution.-
The Kasner Solution.- Vierbeins and Lorentz Connection.- The Dirac Equation in
a Gravitational Field.- Supersymmetry and Supergravity.- Appendix A The
Language of Differential Forms.- Appendix B Higher-Dimensional Gravity.- References.-
Index.

Maurizio Gasperini is Professor
of Theoretical Physics at the Physics Department of the University of Bari,
Italy. He has already published six books with Springer and is the author of
more than 200 publications on gravitational theory, high-energy physics, and
cosmology. He has twice won an "Award for Essays on Gravitation" from
the Gravity Research Foundation (1996 and 1998). His former posts include a
permanent position in the Department of Theoretical Physics at the University
of Turin and three appointments as Scientific Associate at CERN, Theory
Division (1993, 1996, and 2005). Here, in collaboration with Gabriele
Veneziano, he formulated and developed an early-cosmology scenario based on the
symmetries of string theory.