Reddit mentions of General Theory of Relativity

I personally have an issue with the idea of a singularity - i did my undergraduate dissertation on this. I dont question the existence of objects with a gravitational pull that exceeds c but i just cant wrap my head around a singularity in reality - mathematical infinities usually indicate something is wrong or incomplete in a theory. And the whole information issue makes my head hurt.

Dirac makes a reasonably interesting argument in P.A.M Dirac, ‘General Theory of Relativity’, Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1996', taking the Schwarzchild case and solving Einstein's field equations from both sides of the event horizon with a non-infinite answer.

Schwarzchild's infinity in his original derivation was described as being purely mathematical in nature by both Schwarzchild himself and Einstein, and Einstein devoted an entire paper, in 1939 (A. Einstein,
Annals of Mathematics
,
40
, 922, (1939)), to discussing the nature of the Schwarzchild singularity and whether or not it existed in reality. Einstein’s conclusion was that it did
not, and the Schwarzchild singularity was a mathematical notion alone; any evidence for
such a body would have to come from direct experimental and observational data.

Schwarzchild's original paper has been translated here into English and makes for an interesting read.

Of course more recent works, including those of Hawking, would categorically deny there is any validity to such claims. I for one am still on the fence.

In answer to your question, no it is not a common school of thought at all, but does that mean you should ignore it and not make up your own mind? I think you'd also need to clarify with your professor whether he doesnt believe in the singularity, or doesnt believe in bodies that can collapse down to such a density that their gravitational pull exceeds c

A mostly-serious answer: Paul Dirac's book, which provides a relatively complete treatment, in 84 pages.

>QM

Definitely pick up Feynman's QM and Path Integrals, a step towards particle physics after Griffith's.

>QED (nontechnical)

QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter By Mr. Feynman. Written for the layperson, so if your just starting out it would be VERY advanced yet VERY easy to understand and really gives you a feel of modern physics to entice you in the classical studies.

>GR

I picked up Dirac's book last week and I have to say it is most succinct. I've tried one other GR book and various online sources and they all were terrible and I made zero progress. Dirac is crazy good.

And also: THE LAGRANGIAN IS IMPORTANT! That is all.