Mathematics Colloquia and Seminars

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General Relativity is an extension of Special Relativity which relates the geometry of space-time to the gravitational effects of mass and other forms of energy. Roughly put, GR is a relativistic description of gravity. We will discuss some basic notions relevant for the development of the foundations of GR, including time-orientability, Lorentz spaces, and the Einstein Tensor. We will also explore a few space-time models relevant in modern cosmology. The correspondence between geodesics in a spacetime and physical paths of planets will be outlined, and some examples discussed. Time permitting, we will discuss the effects of singularities in space-time, or "black holes" and their effects on the geometry and topology of space-time.