Book description
This authoritative book presents the theoretical development of
gravitational physics as it applies to the dynamics of celestial bodies
and the analysis of precise astronomical observations. In so doing, it
fills the need for a textbook that teaches modern dynamical astronomy
with a strong emphasis on the relativistic aspects of the subject
produced by the curved geometry of four-dimensional spacetime.
The first three chapters review the fundamental principles of celestial
mechanics and of special and general relativity. This background
material forms the basis for understanding relativistic reference
frames, the celestial mechanics of N-body systems, and high-precision
astrometry, navigation, and geodesy, which are then treated in the
following five chapters. The final chapter provides an overview of the
new field of applied relativity, based on recent recommendations from
the International Astronomical Union.
The book is suitable for teaching advanced undergraduate honors programs
and graduate courses, while equally serving as a reference for
professional research scientists working in relativity and dynamical astronomy.
The authors bring their extensive theoretical and practical experience
to the subject. Sergei Kopeikin is a professor at the University of
Missouri, while Michael Efroimsky and George Kaplan work at the United
States Naval Observatory, one of the world?s premier institutions for
expertise in astrometry, celestial mechanics, and timekeeping.
Sergei Kopeikin studied general relativity at the Department of
Astronomy of Moscow State University, Russia. He obtained his PhD in
relativistic astrophysics from Moscow State University in 1986, where he
was then employed as an associate professor. In 1993, he moved to Japan
to teach astronomy at Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo. He was an adjunct
staff member and thereafter visiting professor at the National
Astronomical Observatory of Japan. In 1997, Professor Kopeikin moved to
Germany and worked at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the
Friedrich Schiller University, Jena. Three years later he accepted the
position of a professor of physics at the University of Missouri,
Columbia, USA.
Michael Efroimsky is a research scientist at the United States Naval
Observatory. His research focuses on celestial mechanics and solar
system studies. He received his Ph. D. from Oxford in 1995 and he
subsequently worked at Tufts, Harvard, and the University of Minnesota.
An experienced teacher, having taught numerous courses to Harvard and
Tufts students, Dr. Efroimsky is in a unique position to convey this
complicated topic to interested readers."
George Kaplan was a staff astronomer at the U. S. Naval Observatory in
Washington, D. C., from 1971 to 2007, and now works as an independent
consultant. He received his PhD degree from the University of Maryland,
USA, in 1985. His professional interests focus on the fi eld of
positional astronomy, both its observational and theoretical aspects.
His work includes publications in astrometry, celestial reference
systems, solar system ephemerides, Earth rotation, navigation
algorithms, and astronomical software. Dr. Kaplan is currently the
president of Commission 4 (Ephemerides) of the International
Astronomical Union. The minor planet 16074 is named in his honor.
