Guide to and brief synopsis of 8.

962 lectures, Spring 2020

Especially now that we have transitioned to an online-only “asynchronous” mode of instruction, it is impor-
tant everyone have a good idea what is contained in each set of posted lecture notes and in the recorded
lecture videos. The hand-written notes and recorded videos are, of necessity, heavy on calculational detail.
The goal of this guide is to provide a brief narrative synopsis of each lecture as an accompaniment to the
posted material.
Lecture 1: Introduction; the geometric viewpoint on physics. Review of Lorentz transformations and Lorentz-
invariant intervals, which leads to the definition of the displacement “4-vector” ∆~x between two events.
Definition of 4-vector as a set that transforms between inertial reference frames in same way as the com-
~ =.
ponents of ∆~x. Introduction of component notation: A (A0 , A1 , A2 , A3 ), denoted by Aα . Definition of
basis vectors; definition of the inner product between two four vectors; using the inner product to define the
metric tensor ηαβ .
Lecture 2: The notion of “coordinate” bases: basis objects such that the displacement ∆~x is built only
from basis vectors and coordinate differentials, i.e. such that ∆~x = ∆xα~eα . Several important 4-vectors for
physics: 4-velocity, 4-momentum, 4-acceleration, and their properties. Definition of (M, N ) tensors: a linear
mapping between N 4-vectors, M 1-forms and the frame-independent real numbers. Using the metric and
its inverse to raise and lower tensor indices. Considerations on derivatives of tensor fields – simple at this
point, since we are working in special relativity and only considering rectilinear coordinates. Number flux
4-vector; its use in defining a conservation law (both differential and integral forms).
Lecture 3: More on tensors, derivatives, 1-forms. Contraction of tensor indices; the dual nature of vectors
and the associated 1-form found by lowering the vector index.
Lecture 4: Volumes and volume elements, covariant construction using the Levi-Civita tensor1 . How to go
between differential and integral formulations of conservation laws. Electrodynamics in geometric language
(4-current, Faraday field tensor). Introduction of the stress-energy tensor, with the perfect fluid stress-energy
tensor presented as a particularly important example.
Lecture 5: More on the stress-energy tensor: symmetry, physical meaning of its components in a given
representation. Differential formulation of conservation of energy and conservation of momentum. Prelude
to curvature: special relativity and tensor analyses in curvilinear coordinates. The distinction between
coordinate basis and other basis is particularly important here; for example, we see that ~eφ must have the
dimensions of length in order that ∆φ ~eφ make a dimensionally sensible contribution to ∆~x. The Christoffel
symbol: the quantity (not a tensor!) which relates derivatives of basis objects to basis objects. Introduction
to the covariant derivative: how to make a derivative whose components transform like tensor components.
By appealing to the principle of equivalence (“I can find a local representation in which spacetime looks
flat”), we require the metric to have zero covariant derivative. This leads to a simple rule for building the
Christoffel symbol from derivatives of the metric.
Lectures 6 and 7: Introduction to the principle of equivalence, in particular the use of freely falling frames
as our generalization of the inertial frames that play an important role in special relativity. The physical
meaning of this arises from the fact that gravity couples to the same mass m that determines an object’s
inertia in F = ma. Hence, in a freely falling frame, all objects experience the same a; it is effects relative
to a that are of fundamental physical interest. Several variants of the equivalence principle (EP) exist: The
weak EP tells us that one cannot distinguish free fall under gravity from uniform acceleration, at least over
“sufficiently small” regions (meaning small enough that tides can be neglected); the Einstein EP tells us that
over a sufficiently small region, the laws of physics in freely falling frames are identical to those in special
relativity. (The strong EP also exists, but won’t be discussed much in 8.962; it essentially tells us that
gravitational energy falls in gravitational fields just like any other kind of energy. This is most important
in analyzing the motion of bodies that are very strongly gravitationally bound, like neutron stars and black
holes, for which a substantial fraction or even the majority of its mass/energy content is gravitational.)
Lecture 7: Additional material in Lecture 7 demonstrates that a general coordinate transformation has
enough functional freedom to make the spacetime metric look flat at a particular point, up to quadratic
corrections. In other words, there exist coordinate transformations such that gµν → ηµν + (∂ 2 g)(δx)2 , where
∂ 2 g schematically indicates two derivatives of the metric. Worth noting: When we clear out the metric, there
1A tensor in special relativity formulated in inertial coordinates, not a tensor in more general spacetimes.

1
are 6 leftover degrees of freedom. These correspond to the freedom to set 3 boosts and 3 rotations. When we
clear out the first derivative of the metric, the number of degrees of freedom in the transformation is exactly
the right number to satisfy the constraints imposed by the coordinate transformation. At second order, we
cannot satisfy all of the constraints needed to flatten the spacetime: we would need an additional 20 degrees
of freedom in general to flatten spacetime at this order. We will later see that, in 4 dimensional spacetime,
the tensor which describes spacetime curvature has 20 independent components, exactly corresponding to
the 20 constraints which cannot be eliminated by a coordinate transformation at this order.
Lecture 7 also discusses the need for a law of transport to connect two points in order to define a useful
notion of derivative for tensor fields on a curved manifold. Fundamentally, this arises because basis objects
“live” in the tangent space to points on a manifold. When we compare fields at two different points, we need
to account for the fact that the bases are different at these points. Transport method 1 introduces a set of
connection coefficients which account for how a vector field Aα is transported over a displacement δxβ . If we
require that the metric have zero derivative under this transport law, then the connection coefficients are in
fact the Christoffel symbols we found earlier, and the derivative that emerges from this transport analysis is
the covariant derivative. This mechanism is then known as “parallel transport,” since it amounts to holding
the components of a vector constant in the freely falling or locally Lorentz reference frame. Generalization to
more complicated tensors than 4-vectors is straightforward, and amounts to including a connection coefficient
/ Christoffel symbol for each tensor index.
Lecture 8: This lecture discusses a second transport method, Lie transport, which leads to the Lie derivative.
This is a form of derivative that shows up a lot in discussions of fluid flow. For us, its most important
application is when the Lie derivative of the metric along a vector ξ~ is zero, which shows that the direction
ξ~ is associated with a symmetry of the spacetime. Such a vector field is called a Killing vector; the Lie
derivative of the metric along ξ~ can be turned into a relation called Killing’s equation, ∇(α ξβ) = 0. Killing
vectors play an important role later in the course identifying quantities that are constant for bodies moving
in a spacetime.
Lecture 8 also discusses the notion of tensor densities: quantities with transformation laws similar to a tensor,
but with a slight modification: they involve a power of the determinant of the metric. For our purposes, the
two most important tensor densities are the determinant of the metric itself, and the Levi-Civita symbol. By
combining pthese quantities, we can make a properly tensorial quantity which measures volumes: the tensor
αβγδ = |g|˜ αβγδ does exactly this (with ˜ marking the Levi-Civita symbol we used to compute volumes
in special relativity); the absolute value insures that we don’t take the square root of a negative quantity.
We also derive some useful identities (“party tricks”) based on the determinant of the metric which come in
handy for some important calculations.
Lecture 9: Here we begin discussing the kinematics of bodies that move through spacetime. We consider
the motion of a highly idealized test mass: a body with no charge, no spatial extent, no spin – just a
pure point mass. The only “force” which such a body can experience is gravity, which means that in a
freely falling frame, its motion is purely inertial: in the freely falling frame, it moves in a “straight line,” so
xα (τ ) = xα (0) + uα τ , where xα (τ ) denotes the sequence of events through which it moves as a function of
its own proper time τ , and uα is its 4-velocity.
This representation of its motion only holds in the freely falling frame. A frame-independent formulation is
to say that the body parallel transports the tangent to its worldline along its worldline, or uα ∇α uβ = 0. Such
motion is called a geodesic of the spacetime. In the timelike case, one can show that a geodesic extremizes
(in this case, maximizes) the proper time that accumulates between all timelike trajectories between two
events. Replacing the 4-velocity uα with 4-momentum pα , it is simple to reformulate the geodesic equation
for null or lightlike trajectories.
If the spacetime is independent of a particular coordinate xa (where a is some particular choice of index),
then it can be shown that pa is a constant along the geodesic. For example, if the metric is time independent,
then pt is constant — a fact we can and will exploit in a later lecture. This constancy is related to the fact
that such a metric has a Killing vector ξ; ~ one can show that pα ξα is conserved along a geodesic worldline.
Lecture 10: This lecture begins by examining geodesics in a particular spacetime, ds2 = −(1 + 2Φ)dt2 +
(1 − 2Φ)(dx2 + dy 2 + dz 2 ), with Φ = Φ(x, y, z)  1. Considering the slow motion limit shows that such
geodesics yield the Newtonian equation of motion, with Φ the gravitational potential. (We derive and justify
this spacetime in a later lecture.)
We next derive a tensor which describes spacetime curvature by consider the parallel transport of a vector
around a closed figure. Take the vector to be V µ , and transport it around a parallelogram with sides δxα ,

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δy β . When it comes back to its stating point, the vector will have changed by δV µ = Rµ ναβ V ν δxα δy β ,
where Rµ ναβ is the Riemann curvature tensor. Riemann has certain important symmetries catalogued in
this lecture; carefully counting them up shows that it has 20 independent components, exactly accounting
for the 20 constraints that, at second order, cannot be “transformed away” by going into a freely falling
frame of reference.
It’s worth noting that this is equivalent to saying that the commutator of covariant derivatives is non zero,
with the action producing the Riemann curvature: [∇µ , ∇ν ]pα = Rα βµν pβ .
Lecture 11: More curvature: by taking traces, we define the Ricci curvature: Rµν ≡ Rα µαν = g αβ Rαµβν .
The Ricci scalar is in turn found by tracing the Ricci tensor: R ≡ Rµ µ = g µν Rµν .
Spacetime curvature describes tides. We see this manifested most clearly by considering two nearby geodesics,
along which events at the same affine parameter λ are separated by a vector X α . (I’ve changed notation
slightly from what is in the lecture notes to avoid confusion with the symbol usually used to denote the Killing
vector.) Take the tangent vector to these geodesics to be uα (they are close enough that they tangent vectors
are the same to first order in separation). Propagating along these geodesics, we see that the separation
vector evolves according to uβ ∇β (uα ∇α X µ ) = Rµ γδν uγ uδ X ν .
Finally, by applying the covariant derivative commutator rules in a somewhat complicated way, one can
show that the Riemann tensor obeys the Bianchi identity: ∇α Rβγµν + ∇β Rγαµν + ∇γ Rαβµν = 0.
Lecture 12: By tracing over pairs of indices, we show that the Bianchi identity can be written ∇µ Gµν = 0,
where Gµν = Rµν − 21 gµν R is the Einstein curvature tensor. Note that the trace of Einstein is the same as
the trace of Ricci, up to a minus sign: Gµ µ = R − 21 g µ µ R = −R (using the fact that g µ µ = 4).
With the Einstein tensor in hand, we at last have the tool we need to make a field equation for spacetime.
Our governing principle is that the stress-energy tensor is the most natural source for spacetime. We need
a left-hand side of the equation; it must be a two-index, symmetric, divergence-free curvature tensor. This
tells us that our field equation is of the form Gµν = αTµν . By demanding that this equation yield Newtonian
gravity in the appropriate limit, we find α = 8πG (or 8πG/c4 if we work in units where c 6= 1), yielding at
last the Einstein equations of general relativity: Gµν = 8πG Tµν .
Notice that the left-hand side of this equation just needs to be any divergence-free tensor with the dimensions
of curvature. The metric (modulo an appropriate constant) is actually such a tensor, since the metric has
zero covariant derivative. We can thus add Λgµν to the left-hand side, where Λ is known as the cosmological
constant. This term can be interpreted as a uniform stress-energy filling all of spacetime; it is in fact a
perfect fluid with ρ = −P = Λ/8πG.
Lecture 13: This lecture is somewhat more advanced material, presenting a second route to the Einstein field
equations: via a variational principle. We first review how one can extremize a Lagrangian density L̂ that
depends on some field and thereby derive Euler-Langrange equations which turn into equations governing
that field. For gravity, we take that field to be the spacetime metric. For our Lagrangian density, we require
that it be some scalar derived from the curvature. The simplest such choice is to put L̂ = R, the Ricci scalar;
an almost straightforward calculation shows that this choice yields the Einstein field equations.
Several comments are in order here. First, on the calculation being “almost” straightforward: one step,
showing that a particular term which arises in the calculation can be neglected, is quite subtle. At the
level of 8.962, it suffices to say that the term can in fact be eliminated. Interested students are referred to
Appendix E of the textbook by Wald for detailed discussion. One could also proceed by treating both the
metric and its derivative (in the form of the connection) as quantities which are separately varied (much as
one separately varies a particle’s position and velocity when particle kinematics is computed in Lagrangian
mechanics). Doing so is called performing the Palatini variation; the problematic term discussed above does
not appear in this case, and one finds that the connection and the metric are related via the Christoffel
symbol formula. Your lecturer was hoping to update his lecture notes to present the Palatini variation this
year, but thanks to the COVID-19 emergency was unable to do so.
Second, it is worth thinking about the significance of the fact that equating the Lagrangian density to the
simplest possible curvature scalar, the Ricci scalar R, yields the Einstein field equation. This demonstrates
that general relativity is, in a very quantifiable sense, the simplest possible relativistic theory of gravity.
One can certainly imagine more complicated Lagrangians (e.g., include terms that go as 1/R, or R2 , or that
include gravitational coupling to different fields); indeed, if one expects that if gravity can be unified with
the other fundamental forces, it is is likely that there will be corrections to this “leading” description. The

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Lagrangian formulation gives us a systematic way of building relativistic theories of gravity that go beyond
Einstein’s general relativity.
Lecture 14: The remainder of this course is dedicated to solving the Einstein field equations (the “EFEs”) to
construct spacetimes, and to examine the properties of these spacetimes. As a system of differential equations,
the EFEs are tremendously complicated: they are ten coupled, nonlinear partial differential equations, with
complicated boundary conditions. We will discuss in detail two ways of solving them. The first method is
to assume that spacetime is “close to” the flat spacetime of special relativity, and linearize around this “flat
background.” The second method is to assume a symmetry, and use that symmetry to reduce the complexity
of these equations. (A third method, which is discussed briefly in some “extra” lectures toward the end of
the course, is to simply attack the full coupled nonlinear complications of these equations head on. With
effort, one can then re-write the equations in a form amenable to numerical analysis.)
We begin by linearizing around flat spacetime: we put gµν = ηµν + hµν , and assume the components
hµν are small enough that any term of order h2 can be neglected. In this limit, an important coordinate
transformation is the infinitesimal transformation: We change coordinates according to xα → xα + ξ α , and
take the generator of the transformation to have the property that ∂α ξ β is likewise small. Applying this
coordinate transformation to gµν , we find that it is equivalent to shifting the perturbation according to the
rule hµν → hµν − ∂µ ξν − ∂ν ξµ . A straightforward exercise shows that this shift leaves curvature tensors
unchanged. As such, this operation is essentially identical to a gauge transformation in electrodynamics
which changes potentials but leaves fields unchanged; it is in fact often called a gauge transformation in
linearized gravity.
Constructing the Einstein tensor, rewriting it in terms of the “trace-reversed” metric perturbation h̄µν ≡
hµν − 21 ηµν h (where h = η µν hµν ; notice that h̄µµ = −h, hence the name trace reversed), and choosing our
gauge appropriately, we find the EFEs reduce to the simple wave equation h̄µν = −16πG Tµν . Solving this
in the time-independent limit (for which the wave operator  goes over to the Poisson operator ∇2 ) yields
the spacetime ds2 = −(1 + 2Φ)dt2 + (1 − 2Φ)(dx2 + dy 2 + dz 2 ) which describes the Newtonian limit of general
relativity.
Lecture 15: Here we examine the linearized EFE h̄µν = −16πG Tµν for a non-static source. Any equation
of this form can be solved using a radiative Green’s function (discussed in electrodynamics texts like Jackson,
for example). This gives us a solution in which all ten components of h̄µν appear to be radiative.
Looks can be deceiving: this appearance is a consequence of the gauge we used to write the linearized EFE
in this simple-to-solve fashion. This lecture then presents a synopsis of a somewhat advanced topic: how
to characterize the gauge-invariant degrees of freedom encoded in the metric components hµν . The result
of this exercise is that we find there are six such degrees of freedom. Four are governed by Poisson-type
equations (∇2 “field” = “source”), and as such describe non-radiative contributions to the spacetime (much
as a Coulomb electric field or an Ampere magnetic field describes the non-radiative bits of an electrodynamic
system). The other two degrees are radiative (governing equation of the form “field” = “source”), and
are encoded in the spatial, transverse, and traceless components of the metric perturbation hµν . Of the ten
components hµν , only six represent gauge-invariant contributions to spacetime physics; the remaining four
components are purely gauge.
It’s worth reiterating that much of this lecture is on the advanced side; we do not expect students to follow
every detail. We will use the result characterizing radiation in the next lecture.
Lecture 16: In this lecture, we study gravitational radiation. We first write down a metric perturbation hµν
whose components describe fields that propagate in the z direction at the speed of light (as we expect for
radiation), and we require the metric to be transverse (components parallel to the propagation direction
— the z and t components — set to zero) and traceless (sum of the diagonal elements is zero). These
requirements tell us that the only non-zero components are hxx = −hyy ≡ h+ , and hxy = hyx ≡ h× .
The geodesic equation quickly reveals that test bodies which are initially at rest in this spacetime apparently
remain at rest. Bear in mind, though, that the geodesic equation tells us about motion with respect to a given
coordinate system. A more meaningful calculation is to compute the proper separation of two test bodies
in this spacetime, or to compute the geodesic deviation of these bodies. This reveals that the separation of
the bodies stretches and squeezes, depending on the relative values of h+ and h× and the geometry of the
bodies’ separation.
We next revisit the linearized EFE in order to understand how to compute radiation given a particular
solution. We see that radiation depends at leading order on the second time derivative of a source’s mass

4
quadrupole moment. This should be reminiscent of electrodynamics, in which the leading radiative potential
depends on the first time derivative of a source’s charge dipole moment. The solution also involves a set of
projection tensors (first analyzed on problem set 1, problem 3), which enforce the condition that radiation
be transverse and traceless.
Lecture 17: This lecture is considerably more advanced than most of the material we discuss in this course,
and as such is presented somewhat schematically. The goal of this analysis is two fold: first, to understand
how to describe gravitational waves propagating on a background more general than the flat background we
used in Lecture 16; and second, to characterize the energy and momentum carried by gravitational radiation
as it propagates across the universe.
On the first point, it is important to keep in mind that on a general background, defining what part of space-
time is “radiation” and what part is “not radiation” is quite ambiguous. Both represent spacetime curvature;
both can be spatially and temporally varying. For a separation into “radiation” and “background” to make
sense, there must be a notion of separation of scales: the radiation varies on short times and lengthscales;
the background must vary on long time and lengthscales. Doing so, we define the radiative content of the
spacetime metric, the associated curvature tensors, and generalize the notion of gauge transformation to this
general background.
These foundations are needed for us to study the energy and momentum carried by gravitational waves.
A key to this must be nonlocality: the energy in gravitational waves cannot be localized to a single point.
One can always go to a freely falling frame at that point, representing spacetime there in nearly inertial
coordinates. At that single point, there is no wave! As we saw in the previous lecture, we need to examine
separated points in order for the wave’s effects to show up. We will need to average the wave’s effects over a
region that is several wavelengths in size. At linear order, the wave will vanish when we so average it; this
means that we must go to second order in perturbation theory.
What follows in these notes schematically presents how to organize the Einstein field equations. We sketch
how the second order term acts, after averaging over the correct length and time scales, as an effective stress-
energy tensor back-reacting on the background spacetime. After organizing terms, the leading contribution
to the power carried by gravitational waves takes the form of three time derivatives of the quadrupole
moment, squared. This again is reminiscent of electrodynamics, in which the leading power carried from a
source takes the form of two time derivatives of the dipole momentum squared.
Lecture 18: Cosmology and cosmological spacetimes. This is the first problem for which we solve the EFE
by imposing a symmetry. In this part of the class we consider maximally symmetric spacetimes (or spaces).
Such a space is a manifold whose geometry has the largest number of possible Killing vectors given the
space’s dimension: n(n + 1)/2 Killing vectors in n dimensions. Flat spacetime is one example — the 10
Killing vectors (n = 4) correspond to 3 boosts, 3 rotations, and 4 translations. Euclidean space is another
— the 6 Killing vectors (n = 3) correspond to 3 rotations and 3 translations. A maximally symmetric space
must have a Riemann tensor Rαµβν = R(gαβ gµν − gαν gβµ )/[n(n − 1)] (where R is the Ricci scalar).
Our universe is spatially homogeneous and isotropic on the largest scales2 , but is not temporally isotropic:
the past looks different from the present (and presumably the future). We choose a spacetime which reflects
this, writing ds2 = −dt2 + R2 (t)γij dxi dxj . The spatial coordinates xi are dimensionless; all dimensions of
length are absorbed into the scale factor3 R(t). Notice we have set gtt = −1 and gti = 0. This means we
have chosen “comoving coordinates”: the separation of two observers at rest in these coordinates will change
depending on how the scale factor R(t) behaves. It is worth noting that Earth is not comoving, thanks to the
Solar System’s orbit around the Milky Way and the Milky Way’s motion within the local group of galaxies.
We require γij to describe a maximally symmetric 3-space. Maximally symmetric implies that it be spheri-
cally symmetric, so we can write γij dxi dxj = f (r̄)dr̄2 + r̄2 dΩ2 , where r̄ is a dimensionless radial coordinate
and dΩ2 is the usual spherical angular interval. Computing the Ricci tensor two different ways (one: simply
“turn the crank” using the mathematics of curvature tensors given a metric; two: enforce maximal symmetry)
we can solve for f (r̄), yielding

dr̄2
 
ds2 = −dt2 + R2 (t) + r̄ 2
dΩ 2
.
1 − kr̄2
2 Tensof megaparsecs and larger.
3 Caution:overloaded nomenclature abounds in this subject. We will soon shift to a different definition of scale factor, but
for now be aware that this R(t) is not the Ricci curvature scalar.

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As √shown in the notes, k takes on three possible values: −1, 0, 1. By changing coordinates using dχ =
dr̄/ 1 − kr̄2 , one can re-write this as

ds2 = −dt2 + R2 (t) dχ2 + Sk2 (χ)dΩ2 .

 

When k = +1, Sk (χ) = sin χ. Each spatial slice has the geometry of a 3-sphere; note that such a space
has a maximum radius. This is called a “closed” universe. When k = +1, Sk (χ) = χ. Each spatial slice is
Euclidean; this is called a “flat4 ” universe. When k = −1, Sk (χ) = sinh χ. Each spatial slice is a hyperboloid;
this is called an “open” universe.
A common notation is pick a particular value of the scale factor R(t), say R0 = R(now), then define
a(t) = R(t)/R0 , r = R0 r̄, κ = k/R02 . The line element becomes
dr2
 
ds2 = −dt2 + a2 (t) + r 2
dΩ2
.
1 − κr2
Note that a(now) ≡ a0 = 1. This form in fact is probably the most common way of denoting these spacetimes,
which are called Robertson-Walker metrics. It’s worth noting that the parameter R0 , which provides the
overall scale to all dimensionful quantities, cannot be measured.
To proceed further, we need to think about the right-hand side of the EFE. We will take our source to be
a perfect fluid, which satisfies the requirement of spatial homogeneity and isotropy, requiring that all fluid
elements be at rest with respect to the comoving coordinates. The requirement that ∇µ T µ 0 = 0 leads to an
important formulation of local conservation of energy: we find it tells us that ∂t (ρR3 ) = −P ∂t (R3 ). This is
simply the first law of thermodynamics, dU = −P dV , written in a funny way.
The Einstein field equations yield two equations which govern the scale factor of the universe:
 2
ȧ 8πG κ
= ρ− 2 ,
a 3 a
 
ä 4πG
= − (ρ + 3P ) .
a 3
These are known as the Friedmann equations; a Robertson-Walker metric with a(t) determined according to
these equations is known as a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) spacetime.
At this point it is useful to introduce some notation. H ≡ ȧ/a is the Hubble expansion parameter; its value
now H0 is called the Hubble constant. We define5 Ω = ρ/ρcrit , where ρcrit ≡ 3H 2 /8πG is the “critical
density.” The first Friedmann equation can then be written
κ
Ω−1= .
H 2 a2
Notice that the value of Ω determines whether k = −1, 0, or +1: If Ω > 1 (ρ > ρcrit ), then we must have
k = +1; if Ω = 1 (ρ = ρcrit ), k = 0; if Ω < 1 (ρ < ρcrit ), then k = −1. The overall density of the universe
compared to the critical value determines whether our universe is open, flat, or closed.
Further progress requires an equation of state that relates P and ρ. Cosmology generally uses P = wρ, with
w a constant. One can imagine a universe with multiple kinds of “stuff,” ie contributions with different
values of w. For intuition, imagine a single value of w dominating the universe. Our first law formulation
can then be integrated up to find
 −3(1+w)
ρ a
= .
ρ0 a0
Consider now different kinds of material that can be sources of stress-energy. The three most commonly
considered are
1. Pressureless matter (or simply “matter”), w = 0. This actually gives a good description of a universe
filled with galaxies and galaxy clusters that very weakly interact with each other (except via gravity).
Notice that ρm ∝ a−3 as a changes. This says that if one considers a chunk of the universe, the number
of matter “particles” in it is fixed while the volume evolves as a3 .
4 Caution: Although each spatial slice is flat, spacetime is curved! When a cosmologist calls the universe “flat,” the meaning

is bit different from how we’ve used the term to date.

5 Ω is used for both this normalized density, and for a solid angle element. Context generally makes the meaning clear.

6
 2. Radiation: radiation pressure has an equation of state Pr = 13 ρr , so w = 1/3 in this case, and we
find ρr ∝ a−4 . Here, as a changes, not only does the volume change with a3 , but the energy of each
“particle” of radiation scales with 1/a. In the next lecture, we rigorously show that radiation redshifts
with the scale factor a exactly as this scaling suggests.
3. Cosmological constant: As discussed when we derived the Einstein field equation, a cosmological
constant is equivalent to perfect fluid with PΛ = −ρΛ , meaning w = −1. This leads to ρΛ = constant!
A cosmological constant is akin to a vacuum energy density (with negative pressure) that is independent
of the universe’s overall scale.

Lecture 19: Cosmology continued. Cosmology as a science is all about understanding the large scale structure
of the universe and its constituents, which essentially boils down to understanding what are the sources of
stress-energy that determine the metric of spacetime on the largest scales, the value of k in the Robertson-
Walker metric (ie, whether our universe is open, flat, or closed), and how the scale factor a(t) behaves.
The “forward” problem is conceptually simple: given a stress energy tensor that contains a mixture of
different kinds of matter at some initial time, simply integrate the Friedmann equations, with the constraint
of ∂t (ρa3 ) = −P ∂t (a3 ) that arises from local energy conservation. This can even be done analytically in
some simple limits: if k = 0, and the stress energy tensor is all matter or all radiation, then a(t) grows as a
power law in time; if the stress-energy tensor is cosmological constant, then a(t) grows exponentially with
time. (Calculation of this is actually given at the end of the notes for Lecture 18.)
Of more interest is the inverse problem: given what we can measure, can we determine what our universe
is made of? Essentially, we would like to measure the scale factor a at various t. This means we need
an observationally useful surrogate for both the scale factor a, and for the time t — when we look at, for
example, a distant object (like a quasar or a galaxy), we need to know the scale factor at which that object
emitted its radiation, and how long ago the radiation was emitted.
Consider the scale factor first. A useful tool for us is that an FRW spacetime has a Killing tensor. Recall a
Killing vector ξ~ is related to a symmetry of the spacetime, and satisfies the equation ∇(α ξβ) = 0. A Killing
tensor generalizes this to more indices: a rank n Killing tensor has n indices and satisfies ∇(α Kβγδ...) = 0.
With this, it’s a straightforward exercise to show that, if uα is the tangent to a geodesic trajectory, then
K = Kαβγδ... uα uβ uγ uδ . . . is constant along that trajectory.
The Killing tensor we wish to use is Kµν = a2 (t)(gµν + uµ uν ), where ~u is the 4-velocity of a comoving
observer in the spacetime. We contract this with the 4-momentum of a null geodesic, and conclude that
K = Kµν pµ pν = a2 [gµν pµ pν + (uµ pµ )(uν pν )] = a2 E 2 is constant along that null geodesic, where E is the
energy measured by a comoving observer. Hence, a(t)E is a constant, meaning that the null geodesic’s
energy as measured by comoving observers varies as 1/a.
Note that this justifies part of the intuitive explanation for why the energy density of radiation evolves with
a−4 as the scale factor a evolves. More importantly, this shows how we can directly measure the scale factor
a: It is encoded as the redshift of radiation that we can measure. In particular, if we imagine measuring
radiation that is emitted when the scale factor is a and with a particular energy spectrum, every feature in
that spectrum will be redshifted by a factor of a when we measure it (using the convention that the scale
factor now is 1). Astronomers typically measure redshift z, defined by a shift in the wavelength of a source:
z = (λobs − λemitted )/λemitted . As shown in the notes, the scale factor at emission is aemitted = 1/(1 + z).
We also need to know the time t at which light is emitted. This is hard to measure, but it should be possible
at least in principle to determine the distance d over which the light traveled to reach us. By using null
geodesics, we should be able to convert the distance that the light travels to the time light is emitted.
In Euclidean geometry, there are at least three ways that one can determine how far away a distant object is.
First, you can compare an object’s intrinsic luminosity (assuming it is known somehow) to the radiated flux
2
we measure from it: F = L/(4πDL ). The distance we determine this way is called the luminosity distance.
Second, we can compare the physical size of the object (assuming it is known somehow) to the angular size:
∆Θ = ∆L/DA . Distance determined this way is the angular diameter distance. Finally, we can compare a
known transverse speed to the apparent angular speed of an object on the sky: Θ̇ = v⊥ /DM . This is called the
proper motion distance. These three notions of distance give the same result in Euclidean geometry, but differ
in an FRW spacetime. After going through the detailed calculation, find that DL = (1+z)DM = (1+z)2 DA .
Cosmology then becomes a task of precisely measuring z and various distance measures for a large number of
objects across a range of redshift, and comparing with models to understanding the nature of the universe. We
are fortunate that Nature in fact provides some objects with known standard (or standardizable) luminosities

7
and sizes (“standard candles” and “standard rulers”), making it possible to measure both luminosity distances
and angular diameter distances. Our present best fit suggests a universe that is spatially flat (k = 0), with
a Hubble constant H0 ' 70 km/(sec-Mpc) (although there are some odd discrepancies showing up in this
parameter in recent measurements), with about 30% of the energy density in the form of matter (and only
about 15% of that as matter that fits the standard model), and the remaining 70% of the energy density
as some form of “dark energy” that behaves like a cosmological constant. Optional readings describing up-
to-date cosmological models, and presenting the detailed challenge of how to build such models, have been
posted to the 8.962 website.
Two lingering mysteries are why it is that the universe is so flat, and why it is so homogeneous. If one
considers the fundamental parameter in the FRW metric to be κ, then κ = 0 is a single point in a broad
range of possible values. One might think that perhaps |κ| is simply very small. It is not hard to show,
however, that in a matter- or radiation-dominated universe (as it appears our universe was over much of
its early history), then |κ| tends to grow as a power of the scale factor, pushing away from zero to become
either more positive or more negative. Homogeneity (particularly at the earliest times) indicates that all of
the observable sky must have been in thermal equilibrium at the earliest moments in the universe’s history.
However, it is not terribly difficult to show that, if the universe were matter or radiation dominated, then
large patches of the sky would have be “out of causal contact” (ie, unable to exchange information) early
in its history. This cannot be sensibly reconciled with the idea that the early universe was in thermal
equilibrium.
Cosmic inflation offers a solution to both of these problems. If, at the earliest moments in its history, the
universe were in a “false vacuum” state, then spacetime would be filled with an energy density that acts
like a cosmological constant. As is explored on pset #9, by having the universe expand exponentially, you
can drive its spatial curvature so close to zero that it is unobservable, and you can inflate a patch of early
universe that is easily in causal contact to a large enough scale to explain the universe we observe today.
Lecture 206 : The spacetime of a spherically symmetric compact body. In this lecture, we continue to simplify
the EFE by imposing symmetry, but now we consider a source that is “compact”: the body occupies a finite
volume of space, and spacetime asymptotically approaches the flat spacetime of special relativity far away.
In practice, this means that we imagine the source has some non-zero stress-energy tensor for r ≤ RS (where
RS is the body’s surface), and has Tµν = 0 for r > RS .
Begin by imagining that spacetime is static (nothing varies with time). The most general such spacetime
has a line element with the form ds2 = −e2Φ(r) dt2 + e2Λ(r) dr2 + R(r)2 dΩ2 . Notice that all functions
depend only the radial coordinate r, and that the angular section is proportional to the 2-sphere metric
dΩ2 = dθ2 + sin2 θ dφ2 .
At this point, we choose R(r) ≡ r. This means that r is an areal radius: events at radius r all lie on the
surface of a sphere centered on the origin and with proper area 4πr2 . Note that this is not a unique choice. In
fact, the weak-field solution yielding the Newtonian limit that we studied earlier was written using isotropic
coordinates, a choice which emphasizes the fundamental isotropy of the three spatial directions.
With the metric selected, it is a straightforward exercise to construct the curvature tensor components and
to assemble the Ricci and Einstein tensors. We begin by examining what the EFE tells us in the exterior
r > RS , where Tµν = 0. As shown in the notes, we find

∂r Φ = −∂r Λ → Φ = −Λ + k ,
 
1 A
∂r re2Φ = 1
 
→ Φ = ln 1 + ,
2 r

where k and A are constants of integration. The constant k ends up being just a coordinate rescaling, so we
can set k = 0 without loss of generality. To fix A, note that the spacetime now takes the form
   −1
2 A 2 A
ds = − 1 + dt + 1 + dr2 + r2 dΩ2 ,
r r

and consider non-relativistic (dt/dτ ' 1, dr/dτ  1) radial (dθ/dτ = dφ/dτ = 0) infall in the weak field
(r  |A|) of this spacetime. The geodesic equation in this situation becomes d2 r/dt2 = A/2r2 . The
6 Note that the handwritten label on this PDF file is “Lecture 21.” Lecture 20 was an optional guest lecture the year I wrote

these notes, coinciding with travel to the April APS meeting. All the lecture notes from Lecture 20 onward are shifted by 1 in
their handwritten label.

8
expectation from Newtonian free fall is d2 r/dt2 = −GM/r2 , where M is the mass of the body. This leads
us to identify A = −2GM . The exterior spacetime becomes
   −1
2 2GM 2 2GM
ds = − 1 − dt + 1 − dr2 + r2 dΩ2 ,
r r
an extremely important and famous result known as the Schwarzschild metric, derived by Karl Schwarzschild
under rather arduous circumstances shortly after Einstein announced the field equations of general relativity
(I have a minute or so digression on this in the video recording of this lecture). One reason that this result is
so important is that this spacetime describes the exterior vacuum region of any spherically symmetric body
— even ones that are time-varying, as long as the variations preserve the symmetry (“Birkhoff’s theorem”).
For the interior, we use our old friend the perfect fluid, writing the stress-energy tensor in the form T µ ν =
diag[−ρ(r), P (r), P (r), P (r)]. The equation Gt t = 8πG T t t takes a simple form provided we define
2G m(r)
e−2Λ(r) ≡ 1 − .
r
The interior mass function m(r) is determined by the fluid’s density:
Z r
dm
= 4πr2 ρ(r) or m(r) = 4π ρ(r0 )(r0 )2 dr0 .
dr 0

[Note that m(0) = 0. This may seem obvious, but in fact there are solutions in which m(0) 6= 0 which we
will discuss soon.] Putting m(RS ) = M , this solution for m(r) allows the interior to very nicely connect
with the exterior at the surface radius r = RS .
The equation Gr r = 8πG T r r yields an equation for the metric function Φ(r):
dΦ G[m(r) + 4πr3 P (r)]
= .
dr r[r − 2Gm(r)]
On an old homework exercise, you showed that for a perfect fluid (ρ + P )uβ ∇β uα = −∂α P − uα uβ ∂β P .
Combining this with the fact that for a static fluid in the spacetime each fluid element has a 4-velocity
.
uα = (e−Φ , 0, 0, 0), we find
dP G[ρ(r) + P (r)][m(r) + 4πr3 P (r)]
=− .
dr r[r − 2Gm(r)]
The equations for m(r), dP/dr, and dΦ/dr are known as the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov (TOV) equations
of stellar structure. To solve them, we we need an equation of state which relates pressure and density, and
an “initial” condition describing the matter at r = 0. The solution then gives us a model for a spherical
“star” in fully relativistic gravity.
Lecture 21: In this lecture, we continue our discussion of the spacetimes describing spherically symmetric
compact bodies. To get some insight into solutions of the TOV equations, consider a highly idealized,
unphysical limit: a star with ρ = constant. Such a star would have an infinite speed of sound, which violates
the law that no signal or information can travel faster than light. Despite this rather unphysical behavior,
these stars yield important insights into general relativistic bodies.
As described in the previous lecture, once the equation of state is selected, relativistic stars are described
by a 1-parameter family of solutions: pick the central pressure or central density, and the rest of the star’s
properties are determined. For our constant density stars, pressure is the useful parameter. The TOV
equations yield the following solution relating the star’s radius RS and the central pressure Pc :
 
(ρ + Pc )2 ρ 1 − (1 − 2GM/RS )1/2
 
2 3
RS = 1− or Pc = .
(ρ + 3Pc )2
p
8πGρ 3 1 − 2GM/RS − 1

(Note that M = 43 πρRS3 .) The second form tells us the central pressure we must have in order for the star
to have a particular radius RS . What’s particularly interesting here is that Pc diverges if the star is too
compact:
p
Pc finite requires 3 1 − 2GM/RS − 1 > 0
GM 4
→ < .
RS 9

9
This means that for uniform density stars, we cannot have physically reasonable pressure profiles if RS <
9GM/4. Although the proof goes beyond 8.962, this limit turns out to be quite general, and is expressed
by a result known as Buchdahl’s theorem: No stable spherical fluid configuration can exist for a body with a
surface radius RS < 9GM/4. If such a star existed, it would not be stable, and would collapse to “something
else” (to be discussed soon).
More realistic bodies are described by an equation of state7 P = P (ρ). An approximate form that is often
used at least for test purposes is a power law, P = KρΓ0 , where K and Γ are constants. This form is known
as a polytrope. Note that the density which appears here is the rest mass density; it does not take into
account the work that is done in compressing a fluid to density ρ. As described in supplemental notes8 , the
relationship between rest density and density ρ for a polytrope is given by

P KρΓ0
ρ = ρ0 + = ρ0 + .
Γ−1 Γ−1
With this in hand, it is a straightforward computational exercise to numerically integrate the TOV equations
to build relativistic stellar models.
What if we had a spacetime that was given by the Schwarzschild form
   −1
2GM 2GM
ds2 = − 1 − dt2 + 1 − dr2 + r2 dΩ2
r r

for all r, not just the vacuum exterior of some body? This is, after all, an exact solution for a vacuum
Tµν = 0; but it is a vacuum that somehow has a mass M .
This situation is somewhat reminiscent of the Coulomb point charge in electrodynamics — a field for which
the charge density is zero everywhere, but the total charge is q. In electrodynamics, we cured this apparent
contradiction by invoking a Dirac delta function density distribution; in general relativity, it is harder thanks
to the nonlinear nature of the field equations.
Considering the spacetime metric itself, we see two radii that appear to be problematic: r = 0 and r = 2GM .
Since metric components can be deceiving, let’s assemble a scalar invariant from curvature tensors:

48G2 M 2
I ≡ Rαβγδ Rαβγδ = .
r6
The square root of this quantity (called the Kretschmann scalar) is, roughly, a measure of the tidal forces
felt by a freely falling body in the spacetime. Notice that I diverges as r → 0; that point is, indeed, singular.
But there’s nothing particularly “special” about r = 2GM ; an observer falling into this spacetime would
pass r = 2GM without any particular notification that anything interesting happened there.
As the lecture notes describe, this metric has a coordinate singularity at this radius. Insight into the nature
of this singularity can be found by examining the motion of a test body dropped from some starting radius
r = r0 , but parameterizing this motion with both proper time (time measured according to the body’s own
clock) and coordinate time. The result is that
 
4GM  r0 3/2  r 3/2
τ = − ,
3 2GM 2GM
(r/2GM )1/2 + 1
   r 
r  r 
t = 2GM ln −2 1+ − (same expression but with r → r0 ) .
(r/2GM )1/2 − 1 2GM 6GM

Notice that the infalling body reaches r = 0 in finite proper time τ . However, as r → 2GM , the coordinate
time diverges: t → ∞ as r → 2GM .
How is that possible??? The answer, as we’ll discuss in the next lecture, is tied up with what the coordinate
time t means, and how clocks behave in a gravitational field.

7 Strictly speaking, this is a “cold” equation of state, in which the density decouples from entropy because the fluid is “cold.”

The scale defining “hot” and “cold” for relativistic fluids is the Fermi temperature. For the objects for which general relativity
is important, the Fermi temperature tends to be trillions or tens of trillions of Kelvin. Even the hottest newly born neutron
stars are orders of magnitude colder than this, so the “cold” equation of state approximation is quite adequate.
8 The lecture notes in this section need revision — please instead consult the document entitled “Polytropes and the first

law” under “Materials” on the website.

10
Lecture 22: To address the apparent paradox that emerged at the end of the previous lecture, it is worth
remembering what the coordinate t means. The Schwarzschild spacetime is asymptotically flat, meaning
that it asymptotes to the metric of special relativity when r  2GM . In that limit, t is simply the time
measured on the clock of a stationary observer, and so the coordinate t is best thought of as time as measured
on the clocks of observers who are very far away from the mass M . Any pathologies in this coordinate are
thus tied up in how one connects t at one spatial location to t at another. Recalling that in special relativity
we synchronized clocks using the “Einstein synchronization procedure,” which relied on the fact that the
propagation of light has invariant properties we can exploit, we see that if we want to understand why t
behaves as it does, we need to understand what happens to light as it propagates in this spacetime.
Let us imagine that as the body falls in it emits a radially directed radio pulse, and let’s examine the energy
of this pulse as measured by a sequence of static observers. These observers have 4-velocity
" −1/2 #
α . 2GM
u = 1− , 0, 0, 0 .
r

(Notice that this becomes ill-behaved for r ≤ 2GM , an aspect of its behavior we will return to shortly.)
The energy measured by an observer at radius r is given by E(r) = −pα uα = −pt ut (r), where pα are the
components of the 4-velocity of the radio pulse, and uα (r) is the 4-velocity of the static observer at radius r.
Let us use this to compare the energy of the pulse at emission, r = r0 , to its value when it is very far away:
r
Eobs −pt ut (r → ∞) 2GM
= = 1− .
Eemit −pt ut (r0 ) r0

(We used the fact that pt is a constant along the light-ray, which follows from ∂t gµν = 0.) This tells us that
the pulse of light redshifts away as its point of emission r0 approaches 2GM . From a similar analysis, it
is not hard to show that if the radio pulse is repeated emitted after an interval ∆T at radius r0 , then the
spacing between pulses far away is given by
 −1/2
2GM
∆T∞ = ∆T 1− .
r0

The propagation of light is significantly affected by the strong gravity of this spacetime as r → 2GM . Both
of these effects are, at heart, nothing more than gravitational redshift, which has been experimentally tested
to very high precision in weak fields, but now carried into an extremely strong gravity regime. Because t,
by design, encodes the behavior of light propagation, this coordinates inherits this significant impact — in
particular, become totally singular and pathological as r → 2GM . (Further discussion and considerations
on light propagation can be found in the 8.962 notes entitled “Behavior of light as it propagates out of
Schwarzschild,” written to elaborate on some questions asked in the Spring 2019 semester.)
This tells us why when parameterized by t, the infalling body never crosses the event horizon: the distant
observers can never see this happen. Information describing events near and approaching r = 2GM take
a divergingly long time to reach these observers, and the packets of information which communicate the
details of infall are redshifted away as this radius is approached. Rather than seeing the infalling body cross
r = 2GM , a distant observer sees that body slowly approach this radius and fade from view as the photons
which carry information about the body redshift away.
Different coordinate systems can be written down which ameliorate these difficulties and help to clarify what
is going on. Leaving the details to the lecture notes, the critical conclusion is that for r ≤ 2GM , there are no
timelike or null trajectories which allow an observer to reach or even communicate with larger radii. Events
at r ≤ 2GM are “out of causal contact” with the rest of the spacetime. The radius r = 2GM ≡ rH is called
an event horizon: no events in this part of the spacetime can communicate with any events outside of it.
Spacetimes with mass and event horizons are called black holes.
The Schwarzschild black hole is the simplest member of a broader family. Black holes can spin (“Kerr” black
holes), and they can be charged (“Reissner-Nordstrom”). A charged black hole is spherically p symmetric,
but is endowed with a Coulomb electric field; the horizon radius becomes rH = G(M + M 2 − Q2 ). A
spinning√black hole is not spherically symmetric, though the horizon is at constant coordinate radius rH =
GM + G2 M 2 − a2 , where a = S/M is a parameter describing its spin angular momentum. A spinning,
charged solution also exists (the “Kerr-Newman” solution).

11
This finite set of solutions turns out to be enough to describe all black holes in our universe thanks to a set
of remarkable results. First, much work over the past several decades has shown that the only stationary
spacetimes (at least in 3 space plus 1 time dimension) which have event horizons are the Kerr-Newman
solutions. Second, if an event horizon forms and it is not of Kerr-Newman form, then the spacetime is not
stationary: it is dynamic, and the radiation associated with these dynamics backreacts on the spacetime in
such a way as to drive it very rapidly to the Kerr-Newman solution. The Kerr-Newman spacetime is
the generic outcome of black hole formation.
In fact, charge is certain to be astrophysically irrelevant, since any macroscopic charged object in an astro-
physical environment will be rapidly neutralized by nearby plasma. Because of this, we expect that the Kerr
solution gives an essentially exact solution describing black holes in the universe. It is remarkable that such
a simple mathematical object should describe so many massive objects in our universe. As physicists, we of
course regard this as a hypothesis that must be tested. A substantial body of work in gravitational wave
astronomy (including a good chunk of your lecturer’s career) has as its goal probing the strong-field nature
of black hole spacetimes and testing the hypothesis that Kerr accurately describes these objects.
Lecture 23: Testing the nature of black hole spacetimes largely boils down to modeling the motion of light
and bodies in their vicinity. This could be done by computing all the connection coefficients and studying
the geodesic equation. However, black holes’ highly symmetric nature means that there are other tools which
can be used. In this lecture, we develop the details for motion in the Schwarzschild spacetime. Similar results
can be found for motion in the Kerr spacetime; because it has less symmetry (it is axially but not spherically
symmetric), the results for Kerr are somewhat more complicated.
The spherical symmetry of Schwarzschild means that we can always rotate our coordinate system so that
any point-particle orbit lies in the equatorial plane, θ = π/2. It is simple to show that an orbit which
begins at θ = π/2 with dθ/dτ = 0 will remain in this plane forever. In essence, the symmetry means that
gravity cannot exert a torque to change the orientation of the orbital plane. For all black hole solutions,
∂t gµν = 0 and ∂φ gµν = 0. This guarantees that there exist Killing vectors associated with the time and
axial directions, and that the geodesics of these spacetimes have both a conserved energy E and a conserved
angular momentum Lz .
The 4-momentum of a body moving on a timelike trajectory in Schwarzschild can in general be written
 
. dt dr dφ
pµ = m , , 0, .
dτ dτ dτ

Because the metric is time-independent, we know that pt = gtt pt ≡ −E is a constant of the motion. This
tells us that
 
2GM dt
E =m 1− .
r dτ

Notice that this relates dt/dτ to a constant, E, and a simple function of r. Likewise, because the metric is
φ-independent, we know that pφ = gφφ pφ ≡ Lz is a constant of the motion:

dφ dφ
Lz = m r2 sin2 θ = m r2
dτ dτ
(using θ = π/2 in the final simplification). Finally, use the fact that gµν pµ pν = −m2 : expanding this
equation, using the connection between E and dt/dτ and between Lz and dφ/dτ , we find
 2 !
L̂2z
 
dr 2 2GM
= Ê − 1 − ( 1+ 2
dτ r r
= Ê 2 − Veff (L̂z , r) .

We have defined the energy and angular momentum per unit rest mass, Ê ≡ E/m and L̂z ≡ Lz /m, as well
as the effective potential Veff . Studying trajectories of bodies near Schwarzschild black holes boils down to
a simple recipe: First, pick the energy Ê and angular momentum L̂z . Second, pick an initial position (r, φ).
Finally, integrate up the equations for dr/dτ , dφ/dτ , and dt/dτ .
As described in the notes, all of the key features of the behavior of black hole orbits is bound up in the
effective potential. For example, it’s not hard to show using that if Ê ≥ 1, then the motion is unbound: the

12
 √
orbiting body comes in from far away, turns around at the radius where Ê = Veff , then returns to very
far away.
√ An orbit with Ê < 1 generalizes an eccentric orbit, turning around at the two radii which solve
Ê = Veff . By choosing the conditions just right, one can put the orbit at a particular radius such that
dr/dτ = 0 for all time — in other words, a circular orbit. As shown in the notes, one must have
s
1 − 2GM/r GM
Ê = p , L̂z = ± .
1 − 3GM/r 1 − 3GM/r

For such orbits, it is not difficult to show that the angular frequency of the orbit as seen by distant observers,
r
dφ dφ/dτ GM
= =± .
dt dt/dτ r3

This, amusingly, is exactly the same as the formula for orbital frequency yielded by Kepler’s law. It should
be emphasized that this is not deep; different results emerge if one uses, for example, isotropic radial
coordinates rather than the areal Schwarzschild coordinate. It is quite convenient, however, and certainly
easy to remember. Stable circular orbits cease to exist for r ≤ 6GM , a starkly non-Newtonian behavior.
We repeat this exercise for photon orbits, for which m = 0 and we define the 4-momentum as pµ = dxµ /dλ.
Energy and angular momentum are still conserved, telling us that
 −1
dt 2GM dφ
E= 1− , Lz = r2 .
dλ r dλ

We also require gµν pµ pν = 0, yielding

2
L2
  
dr 2GM
= E2 − 1− .
dλ r2 r

It is a bit disturbing that this appears to predict that the trajectory depends on the energy — as long as
we are in the geometric optics limit, the trajectory should be independent of E. To account for this, divide
both sides by L2z , redefine the affine parameter via λ0 = Lz λ (then drop the prime), and define b ≡ Lz /E.
The equation becomes
 2  
dr 1 1 2GM
= − 1 −
dλ b2 r2 r
1
= − Vphot (r) .
b2
√
The photon potential has a maximum at r = 3GM , and the height at that maximum is Vphot = 1/(3 3GM )2 .
The parameter b is an impact parameter: as discussed in the notes √ and in lecture, it parameterizes the offset
of an ingoing trajectory from the center of the black hole. If b > 3 3GM a photon √ directed inward toward
the black hole will scatter around it, propagating
√ back out to infinity. If b < 3 3GM , it will fall inside,
never returning to large radius. If b = 3 3GM , the photon will circulate forever at r = 3GM , a special
radius known as the “light ring.” Generalizations of this notion exist for Kerr black holes, though the details
are necessarily somewhat more complicated.
This in fact has astrophysical importance. If a black hole is surrounded by hot, luminous matter, the light
from that matter will tend to be trapped at the light ring. The conditions need to be tuned so carefully to
stay at this radius that almost every photon so trapped will eventually fall out of the light ring, either being
eventually captured by the black hole, or else escaping and eventually reaching distant observers. Thanks
to the symmetry of the light ring, one expects√that a distant observer will actually see a ring of light, whose
radius is exactly the impact parameter b = 3 3GM . This is what was observed using high-resolution radio
interferometry by the Event Horizon Telescope.
Lecture 24 (not video recorded): The previous 23 lectures cover the most important topics in a one semester
academic presentation of general relativity. There are certain topics which, if the course ran longer, we would
explore in greater depth, but the contents of those 23 lectures (plus the associated problem sets) should put
you on a strong footing for learning about any topic in classical general relativity.

13
In a normal semester, we would spend the final two lectures covering some advanced material. Both of
these lectures describe how to analyze realistic compact sources, particularly highly dynamical, strong-
field binaries. These lectures serve two purposes. First, they would present you with material that is
related to ongoing research in modern classical general relativity; this background is particularly valuable
to understanding the astrophysics of gravitational-wave sources, a focus of your lecturer’s research. Second,
these lectures would show you a snapshot of techniques that are used to solve the Einstein field equations
in situations beyond the circumstances we studied in class (linearizing about a flat background; exploiting
a symmetry). In the pandemic term of Spring 2020, I was not able to record videos corresponding to these
two lectures, but I have posted the lecture material. These notes are the (relatively) less technical synopsis
of this material. Note that no assignments rely on these two lectures; this is truly “bonus” material.
The first of these lectures describe what are essentially modifications of the “perturbation to flat space-
time” idea, describing how one can iterate from small deviations from flat spacetime to not-so-small small
deviations, as well as describing perturbations about exact strong-field spacetimes. The exact strong-field
spacetimes we examine are black hole solutions; perturbations around cosmological spacetimes have a similar
character. The second lecture describes how to reformulate the EFEs in a way that allows one to build a
numerical spacetime by direct numerical integration of the field equations.
The first method we discuss is called post-Newtonian (“pN”) theory, since it shows how one can iterate from
the Newtonian limit of general relativity to a solution that progressively becomes closer and closer to the
solution of the field equations. PN theory begins by defining a quantity that looks like a metric perturbation:
√
hαβ = −gg αβ − η αβ .

Note, however, that we do not assume the components of hαβ are small in any sense. We impose one
condition on this tensor: we require ∂α hαβ = 0. This is called the “deDonder gauge,” and the coordinate
system we use which respects this is called “harmonic coordinates.” (You examined the linearized gravity
limit of this on problem set 7.)
When one defines the field hαβ in this way and imposes deDonder gauge, a seeming miracle happens: the
exact Einstein field equations become

hαβ = 16πGτ αβ ,

where  ≡ η µν ∂µ ∂ν is the wave operator in flat spacetime, and where

Λαβ
τ αβ = (−g)T αβ + .
16πG
The tensor Λαβ encodes all the nonlinearities of general relativity, and can be written schematically

Λαβ = N αβ [h, h] + M αβ [h, h, h] + Lαβ [h, h, h, h] + . . .

(i.e., the N term involves two fields of order hαβ coupling to one another; the M term involves three such
fields; etc.). The exact detailed form of this term is given in the posted PDF file “Lecture 24, slide batch
2.” The formal solution can be immediately written down using the radiative Green’s function, which solves
any sourced wave equation:
Z αβ 0 0
τ (x ; t − |x − x0 |) 3 0
hαβ (x, t) = −4G d x .
|x − x0 |
Like many exact solutions, this may seem to be useless at first sight: it’s actually an integro-differential
equation for hαβ , in which you need to know the solution in order to build the source which you must know
to compute the solution. As detailed in the posted PDF slides, the secret to solving it is to realize that the
RHS of this equation introduces a factor of G, which plays the role of a “small parameter” in defining an
iterative solution. By writing
∞
X
αβ
h = Gn hαβ
n ,
n=1

And inserting into this equation, one finds that that hαβ
1 is simply the linear theory solution we worked out
earlier (ie, it encodes the Newtonian limit), and that hαβ αβ
n only depends on knowledge of hm , where m < n.

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This means that one can iteratively correct the spacetime, and iteratively build solutions describing the
motion of (for example) two bodies in orbit about one another. For example, by taking things to order G2
and developing the geodesic equation in this spacetime, one finds the acceleration ai of body 1 in a binary
system is given by
i
Gm2 r12
ai1 = − 3
r12
(" 2 !#
5G2 m1 m2 4G2 m22

1 Gm2 3 r12 · v2
+ 2 3 + 3 + 3 − v12 + 4 (v1 · v2 ) − 2v22 i
r12 +
c r12 r12 r12 2 r12
)
Gm2
+ 3 [4(r12 · v1 ) − 3(r12 · v2 )] (v1i − v2i ) .
r12

The first line is of course just the “normal” Newtonian acceleration of body 1 due to the gravitational
attraction of body 2. The second line shows all the terms that are of order G2 (or Gv 2 , which by the virial
i
theorem is of the same order) which correct Newton’s gravity in this gauge. Here, r12 is the i component of
the separation vector between the two bodies in deDonder gauge, and vj gives the velocity drj /dt of body
j in this coordinate system. One can continue, and in fact this expansion has been done so far to order
G8 . The results for order G3 and G4 take a paragraph to write out; those beyond that become increasingly
voluminous, filling multiple journal pages at order G5 and higher.
It is then “simply” a matter of very careful9 analysis to compute things like the gravitational waveforms such
a binary generates, and the backreaction of gravitational waves on the binary’s dynamics. Generically, this
approach works well (meaning that the expansion has good convergence properties) as long as the separation
of the members of the binary isn’t too small — in other words, we require the typical separation r to be
at many times larger than the gravitational lengthscale GM (or equivalently, that the typical orbit speed v
be small compared to c). As we’ll revisit briefly in the next lecture synopsis, post-Newtonian analyses have
played an extremely important role in understanding binary dynamics in general relativity, and were in fact
the only effective tool for modeling such systems (at least when the binary’s members are of comparable
mass) prior to some breakthroughs in computational relativity that occurred circa 2005.
Another approach is to do linear perturbation theory, but to linearize around an exact solution which
describes a strong-field object in general relativity. We put gαβ = ĝαβ + hαβ , where ĝαβ is some exact
solution, expand the EFEs to linear order in  and then set  = 1 to develop equations describing the
perturbation hαβ . This technique is particularly well-developed when the exact solution describes a black
hole, and is the foundation for black hole perturbation theory.
The posted notes and accompanying slides sketch how this can be done when the black hole “background” is
taken to be a Schwarzschild black hole. By requiring that background plus perturbation be a valid solution
of the vacuum EFE, one finds that the perturbation to Ricci must satisfy δRαβ = 0. Further, one can
organize the functional form of the perturbation by its properties with respect to rotations (the background
is spherically symmetric), and by their parity properties. Focusing for now on odd-parity perturbations, one
finds that all critical metric perturbations can be derived from a “master function” Q that is governed by
the equation

∂2Q ∂2Q
  
2GM `(` + 1) 6GM
− + 1 − − =0.
∂t∗2 ∂r∗2 r r2 r3
The integer ` is a spherical harmonic index, and reflects the fact that a spherical harmonic decomposition
has been introduced. The coordinate
h r i
r∗ = r + 2GM ln −1
2GM
is called the tortoise coordinate. Notice that as r → ∞, r∗ → ∞; but, as r → 2GM , r∗ → −∞. The tortoise
coordinate is not very different from the Schwarzschild radial coordinate at large radius, but it puts the black
hole event horizon infinitely far away (in coordinates! — not in proper distance, of course). The equation
governing Q is called the Regge-Wheeler equation; a similar analysis done for even parity modes yields a
similar (but somewhat messier) equation known as the Zerilli equation.
9 The term “straightforward but tedious” is designed for such an analysis, which makes one praise computer algebra systems

with great vigor.

15
In the limits r → ∞ and r → 2GM , the equation for Q has the asymptotic form

∂2Q ∂2Q
− =0,
∂t∗2 ∂r∗2

which has the solutions Q = exp[−iω(t±r∗ )]. We expect the solution of the form Q ∝ exp[−iω(t−r∗ )] ≡ Qout
to describe Q as r → ∞, since this corresponds to purely outgoing radiation far from the black hole; likewise,
we expect Q ∝ exp[−iω(t+r∗ )] ≡ Qin as r → 2GM , since this corresponds to purely ingoing radiation coming
into the black hole.
Of course, one can solve the equation for Q at all r. By enforcing as a boundary condition Q → Qout as
r → ∞ and Q → Qin as r → 2GM , one finds that only certain values of ω “work.” Such omegas are in
general complex, and thus describe damped oscillations. These solutions are called quasi-normal modes of
the black hole spacetime, and represent an oscillation of the black hole’s geometry.
As described here, this exercise does not work very well for Kerr black holes because the equations one gets
for Kerr metric perturbations are very difficult to work with. However, in something of a miracle, it turns
out that one can make substantial progress by working with curvature perturbations.
You worked out some of the core details of this on a problem set. The idea is to take a derivative of the
Bianchi identity to obtain a wave equation for the Riemann curvature with the schematic form Rαβµν =
terms involving Riemann squared (focusing on the vacuum case, so that the stress-energy and Ricci tensors
vanish). By writing Rαβµν = R̂αβµν + δRαβµν (where R̂αβµν is the Riemann curvature of the background
Kerr black hole, choosing a set of basis vectors adapted to radiative and non-radiative degrees of freedom, and
then projecting Riemann onto appropriate combinations of these basis vectors, one can pick out components
of curvature which describe radiation, and ones which describe non-radiative aspects of the spacetime. The
components which describe radiation in this spacetime turn out to be governed by a fairly simple differential
equation. This analysis, for example, yields a generalization of the quasi-normal modes described above,
which shows that the modes have a frequency and a damping time which depend upon and thus encode a
black hole’s mass and spin.
One does not need to focus on purely vacuum solutions. By imagining that the wave equation has a source,
one can build solutions which describe how a black hole’s spacetime is modified by orbiting matter. A
particularly fruitful direction has been to take the source to be a mass µ that is much less massive than the
black hole, µ  M , and to place it is in orbit about the black hole. One can then construct solutions to the
perturbed geometry which describe the binary. This method complements post-Newtonian theory, as it does
not restrict the class of orbits that can be considered, as long as the mass ratio is large enough (µ/M  1)
that the perturbative expansion is valid. This also turns out to provide a very accurate representation of
binary sources with large mass ratios, a limit that is in fact of great astrophysical interest.
Lecture 25 (not video recorded): What do we do when our spacetime has no particular symmetry, and no
obvious “small parameter” by which one can expand around some exact background solution? In other
fields of analysis, the answer is simple: numerically solve the equations which govern the system. For
systems of partial differential equations, this typically involves some scheme for discretizing the time and
space representation of all quantities under study. For example, one replaces derivatives by finite difference
approximants:

f (xi+1 , yj , zk , tn ) − f (xi−1 , yj , zk , tn )
∂x f (t, x, y, z) → .
xi+1 − xi−1

The differential equations relating fields at different points in space and different moments in time become
algebraic relations which can be solved on a computer. Provided that one can come up with an accurate
scheme for solving these equations, and that one has the computational resources needed, it is then straight-
forward in principle (though often very challenging in practice) to model your system. Certain purists10
sometimes sneer at such computational approaches. Such purists are not just wrong, but deluded. A
tremendous number of important problems that are described by nonlinear systems of equations must be
modeled numerically, including (for example) fluid dynamics and plasma problems.
Complicating the problem in relativity is the principle of covariance: we have tremendous freedom to choose
how to divide “spacetime” into “space” and “time.” How do we “integrate forward in time” when the notion
10 Including past 8.962 students, one of whom told me that no “real” physicists use numerical methods.

16
of “time” is not unique? On a past problem set, you showed that this is possible in principle: the contacted
Bianchi identity11 , ∇a Gab = 0 becomes
∇0 G0b = −∇i Gib .
The terms on the right-hand side have at most two time derivatives in them. Since the operator ∇0 explicitly
contains a time derivative, we know that G0b has at most one time derivative. This shows us that the Einstein
field equations split into two “flavors”:
G0b = 8πT 0b “Constraint” equations ;
Gij = 8πT ij “Evolution” equations .
The constraint equations have at most one derivative of the metric in them; we can think of them as tell us
how the geometry and its first derivative behave as a function of “space” at a single moment of “time.” These
equations play a mathematical role similar to the divergence Maxwell equations. The evolution equations
have two time derivatives, and tell us how the geometry evolves from “moment to moment.” These equations
are akin to Maxwell’s curl equations.
To proceed, we need to break the beautiful covariance of spacetime and pick what is time and what is
space. However, we wish to use the powerful mathematical machinery of tensor analysis, so we wish to do by
formulating tensor equations that are adapted to the time and space coordinates that we choose. Breaking
spacetime into space and time is described on pages 2 and 3 of lecture 25, as well as slides 2, 3, and 4 of the
accompanying slides (labeled “Lecture 26, slide batch 2”). The basic idea is to imagine two nearby “slices”
of spacetime. Each corresponds to a particular moment of the time coordinate you have choose; the first is
at t, the second at t + dt. Imagine that event A is at spatial coordinate xi in the t slice, and that event B
is at spatial coordinate xi + dxi in the t + dt slice. At each event, one can define12 a vector na which points
normal to the event’s timeslice.
Suppose you are sitting at event A and move along the normal from slice t to slice t + dt. You do not
necessarily find yourself at coordinate xi in the new slice, but you may be shifted by an amount −β i dt from
that coordinate. In addition, the amount of proper time you experience in moving along this shift defined
to be dτ = α dt. The quantities α and β i are called the lapse and the shift, respectively. The lapse gives
us freedom to “run time” at different speeds in different parts of our manifold (so that clocks at the edge
of our grid, presumably far from any source, run fast compared to those which may be close to the source
and experiencing gravitational redshift). The shift allows us slide our spatial coordinates around in each
slice in a way that is most convenient to our analysis. For example, if an object is undergoing gravitational
collapse, it may be useful to have our coordinates densely packed near the collapsing matter, but leave things
more sparse far away (similarly to how the tortoise coordinate r∗ used in black hole perturbation theory
becomes infinitely dense compared to r near an event horizon). The lapse and shift can be freely chosen,
and can be regarded as a generalized notion of “gauge choice” for strong-field relativity. With them chosen,
the spacetime interval between events A and B is
ds2 = −α2 dt + γij (dxi + β i dt)(dxj + β j dt) ,
where γij is the 3-dimensional metric in a given constant time slice.
Pages 4, 5, and 6 of the posted notes and slides 4 and 5 of the accompanying slide deck define these quantities
more precisely. Key concepts are to regard the time coordinate t as level surfaces of some scalar field that
fills all of spacetime, and to define na as the normal to these level surfaces. The quantity γab = gab + na nb
is a projection tensor; the field [T a b ]in slice = γ a c γ d b T c d is defined only in the time slice to which na is the
normal. This tells us that γab is the metric in that slice (and that with the coordinate properly chosen, only
the spatial components γij are non zero). We denote by Da the covariant derivative associated with this
spatial metric.
We next need to develop all the curvature tensors in this language. First is the “in-slice” Riemann tensor.
This is actually quite easy: it’s just the normal Riemann tensor, but built up using the metric γab . We call
this tensor, Ra bcd the intrinsic curvature associated with a given time slice.
11 In this lecture, we follow much of the numerical relativity literature and use what is sometimes called the “Fortran con-

vention.” All indices are written as lower-case latin letters; spacetime indices are designated with the set (a, b, . . . , h); space
indices are designated with (i, j, k, l, m). If you understand why this is called the Fortran convention, you are either way older
than the typical 8.962 student, or you have been cursed to work with archaic code and have my condolences.
12 The index on this vector is incorrectly written i in the lecture notes. With a little thought, you can see it must point in

the timelike direction, so we should use the spacetime index label rather than a spatial index label.

17
The second contribution is more subtle. We have tremendous freedom to select each time slice. If we picture
spacetime as a 4-dimensional “slab,” we can make each 3-dimensional time slice flat or wiggly depending
upon how we choose to chop up that original slab. The extrinsic curvature is the curvature in each slice
that arises from how we decided to “cut” each of these slices. Some intuition comes from thinking about
the surface of a cylinder. A cylinder’s surface is intrinsically flat: Two geodesic trajectories on it which start
out parallel will stay parallel forever. However, it’s also clearly round in an intuitive sense. This roundness
comes from how we embed this 2-dimensional surface into 3-dimensional space.
The extrinsic curvature is quantified by examining how the normal vectors expand or diverge as we move
from timeslice to timeslice. We define the extrinsic curvature tensor as

Kab = −γ c a γ d b ∇c nd .

By piecing together various definitions which are given in the notes, one can show that this is equivalent to
a Lie derivative of γab along the normal direction:
1
Kab = − L~n γab .
2
Since ~n points from slice to slice, one can intuitively regard Kab as a kind of first time derivative of the
spatial geometry. The fields γab and Kab completely describe the geometry of space at any given moment.
Once one knows the extrinsic and intrinsic curvature, it becomes possible to build the 4-dimensional curvature
tensor (4) Ra bcd from them. The results, which I leave in the notes, are known as Gauss’s equation (which
tells us about (4) Ra bcd with all four indices projected into a spatial slice), the Codazzi equation (which tells
us about (4) Ra bcd with three indices projected spacelike), and Ricci’s equation ((4) Ra bcd with two indices
projected spacelike). Thanks to Riemann’s symmetries, this completely characterizes this curvature tensor.
This gives us everything we need to build the Einstein field equations, (4) Gab = 8πG (4) Tab . We break it up
into 3 pieces, depending on how many components are parallel or perpendicular to the normal na :

na nb (4) Gab = 8πG (4) Tab na nb ≡ 8πGρ

becomes

R + K 2 − Kab K ab = 16πG ρ .

Here, K = γ ab Kab is the trace of the extrinsic curvature, and ρ is the energy density in the spacetime as
measured by a “normal” observer (i.e., an observer who moves along the normal to the slice). This equation
is known as the Hamiltonian constraint, and is the fully tensorial version of the relation G00 = 8πG T 00 .
Next we look at γ b a nc acting on the Einstein field equation, yielding

Db K b a − Da K = 8πG ja

where ja = −γ b a nc (4) Tbc is the momentum density measured by a normal observer. This is called the
momentum constraint.
The final Einstein equations come from making two spatial projections. Before doing so, we define the “time
direction”:

ta = αna + β a ,

An observer who moves along na is an “Eulerian observer,” who remains at rest in a time slice; an observer
who moves along ta is a “coordinate observer,” who slices along the grid maintaining a constant (spatial)
coordinate position xi (even if that coordinate’s position is changing from slice to slice). The result turns
out to be

L~tKab = −Da Db α + α (Rab − 2Kac K c b + KKab )

 
1
−8πGα Sab − γab (S − ρ) + Lβ~ Kab .
2
(4)
(where Sab ≡ γ c a γ d b Tcd , and S = γ ab Sab ). This is the evolution equation. Notice that it is effectively a
time derivative of the extrinsic curvature. Since the extrinsic curvature is a kind of time-derivative of the

18
spatial geometry, this equation provides, in fully tensorial form, a relationship for the second derivative of
the spatial geometry.
Formally, this solves the problem. These systems of equations can be used to prove theorems on the existence
of solutions to Einstein’s equations. For example, given an initial geometry in our spacetime manifold, these
equations tell us how to build the geometry at later times.
Some lingering concerns remain. For example, the equations predict the existence of singularities — points in
the manifold where the geometry becomes ill-behaved, and beyond which the equations cannot be integrated.
However, in all known generic cases, these singularities have been found to be hidden behind an event horizon.
As such, singular parts of the manifold are removed from causal contact with the rest of the manifold, and
are thereby rendered harmless.
It is not known whether this is a generic feature of general relativity. The hypothesis that singularities which
form from the collapse of non-singular initial conditions are always hidden by event horizons is known as
the “Cosmic Censorship Conjecture.” One counterexample, which requires extreme fine tuning of initial
conditions, is known13 . This fine-tuned case leads to the formation of a strange singularity, a structure of
zero mass but infinite tidal stresses exactly at the structure. No counterexample is known which forms from
a distribution which is not extraordinarily fine tuned. Whether such an example will be found has been the
subject of moderately famous bets by moderately famous scientists being moderately silly14 .
Practically, there is still a tremendous amount to be done. The exercise described above is what one needs
to do to set up the problem of numerically computing a spacetime. In practice, implementing this proved
to be very challenging. For decades, only highly constrained problems (typically of reduced dimension, with
symmetries imposed) could be solved. Whenever one tried to evolve a generic case, numerical instabilities,
seeded by discretization and round-off error and magnified by the nonlinear nature of the equations, grew
in an unbounded fashion. An example discussed in the posted slides shows that even the “easy” cases
didn’t really work. Imagine starting with initial data describing a static black hole doing absolutely nothing.
Formally, we know that nothing should happen: it should just sit there. In 1995, one found that the equations
describing the “evolution” of this system became artificially dynamical due to numerical error. The analysis
code crashed after a typical time interval of t ∼ 50GM . Highly asymmetric and dynamical problems were
even worse.
This all changed, rather dramatically, in late 2004 and 2005. In that year, various groups found ways of
representing the data (essentially, “good” choices of lapse and shift) which kept numerical instabilities under
control. It must be noted that the decades of frustrating challenges produced many good ideas which helped
tremendously once good gauge conditions were known. Your lecturer remembers in the span of one year
that leading senior people in the field were beginning to discuss whether one should give up on the field,
to suddenly beginning to mass produce astrophysically important simulations of interesting strong-gravity
binary dynamics. The field has now reached the point where for many problems it is practically a matter of
engineering. Computing the dynamics of binary black holes, for example (two black holes which orbit one
another, generating strong gravitational waves which backreact on the system and drive them to merge into
a single object), can be done so well that computational models play a large role informing the analysis of
data from gravitational-wave detectors like LIGO and Virgo.

13See arXiv:9612015 for discussion

14http://www.theory.caltech.edu/people/preskill/bets.html

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MIT OpenCourseWare
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8.962 General Relativity

Spring 2020

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