These lecture notes are intended for starting PhD students in theoretical physics who have a working knowledge of General Relativity. The four topics covered are:

1. Surface charges as conserved quantities in theories of gravity;
   
2. Classical and holographic features of three-dimensional Einstein gravity;
   
3. Asymptotically flat spacetimes in four dimensions: BMS group and memory effects;
   
4. The Kerr black hole: properties at extremality and quasi-normal mode ringing.
   

Each topic starts with historical foundations and points to a few modern research directions.


About the Author

Geoffrey Compere is a FNRS Research Associate at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. His research, as a theoretical physicist, focuses on surface charges in gravitation, the physics of black holes close to extremality, supergravity and infinite-dimensional symmetries, topics on which he has authored over 50 papers. He developed the package SurfaceCharges for Mathematica which allows to compute surface charges in gravitation coupled to matter. He is the recipient of an ERC Starting Grant addressing the holographic properties of black holes. As a member of the LISA consortium and of the Belgian Gravitational Wave Center, he is currently developing waveform models to confront General Relativity with upcoming high-precision gravitational wave observations.

Reviews
"In accordance with the author's aim to target young PhD students in physics or postdocs, these lecture notes have definitely been written in the language and style of physicists." (Gabor Etesi, zbMath 1419.83003, 2019)



Book Information
ISBN 9783030042592
Author Geoffrey Compere
Format Paperback
Page Count 140
Imprint Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Publisher Springer Nature Switzerland AG