An Introduction to General Relativity
Abstract: For hundreds of years Newtonian gravity has provided a way for describing the motion of massive objects in terms of forces and fields. General relativity provides a radically different way of understanding the interaction of objects. GR is a geometric theory of gravitation. As John A. Wheeler wrote, “Spacetime tells matter how to move. Matter tells spacetime how to curve.” In my talk I will provide an overview of the theory of GR. I will also discuss how observations allow us to test GR. Specifically I will focus on the emission of gravitational waves by accelerating objects. Gravitational waves have been indirectly observed in the orbital decay of the binary pulsar PSR B1913+16. Additionally, experiments are currently underway that hope to measure directly these ripples in spacetime.