Ray Optics, Fermat’s Principle, and Applications to General Relativity
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"Ray Optics, Fermat’s Principle, and Applications to General Relativity" by Volker Perlick is a mathematics book and learning resource focused on Deep Sky & Solar System. Best for teachers, students, and readers looking for stronger mathematical understanding.
This book is about the mathematical theory of light propagation in media on general-relativistic spacetimes. The first part discusses the transition from Maxwell's equations to ray optics. The second part establishes a general mathematical framework for treating ray optics as a theory in its own right, making extensive use of the Hamiltonian formalism. This part also includes a detailed discussion of variational principles (i.e., various versions of Fermat's principle) for light rays in general-relativistic media. Some applications, e.g. to gravitational lensing, are worked out. The reader is assumed to have some basic knowledge of general relativity and some familiarity with differential geometry. Some of the results are published here for the first time, e.g. a general-relativistic version of Fermat's principle for light rays in a medium that has to satisfy some regularity condition only.
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"Ray Optics, Fermat’s Principle, and Applications to General Relativity" by Volker Perlick is a mathematics book and learning resource focused on Deep Sky & Solar System. Best for teachers, students, and readers looking for stronger mathematical understanding.
Topic: Deep Sky & Solar System
Author: Volker Perlick
Who this is for:
- Teachers and classroom instructors
- Students building subject mastery
- Readers looking for practical learning support
Why this book matters: It stands out as a practical math resource that helps explain concepts, strengthen problem-solving, and support classroom or independent learning.
This book is about the mathematical theory of light propagation in media on general-relativistic spacetimes. The first part discusses the transition from Maxwell's equations to ray optics. The second part establishes a general mathematical framework for treating ray optics as a theory in its own right, making extensive use of the Hamiltonian formalism. This part also includes a detailed discussion of variational principles (i.e., various versions of Fermat's principle) for light rays in general-relativistic media. Some applications, e.g. to gravitational lensing, are worked out. The reader is assumed to have some basic knowledge of general relativity and some familiarity with differential geometry. Some of the results are published here for the first time, e.g. a general-relativistic version of Fermat's principle for light rays in a medium that has to satisfy some regularity condition only.
| Author | Volker Perlick |
| Publisher | Springer Science & Business Media |
| Published | 2000-02-18 |
| ISBN-13 | 9783540668985 |
| Binding | Hardcover |
| Pages | 222 |
| Language | English |
| Subjects | Mathematics |
| Topic | Deep Sky & Solar System |
| Series | Lecture Notes in Physics Monographs |
Format: Hardcover
Length: 222 pages
Language: English
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