An introduction to the theory of rotating relativistic stars

Abstract

These lecture notes are intended to introduce the theory of rotating stars in general relativity. The focus is put on the theoretical foundations, with a detailed discussion of the spacetime symmetries, the choice of coordinates and the derivation of the equations of structure from the Einstein equation. The global properties of rotating stars (mass, angular momentum, redshifts, orbits, etc.) are also introduced.

Comments: 90 pages, 18 figures, lectures given at the Compstar 2010 School (Caen, 8-16 Feb 2010). Changes with respect to v1: minor corrections, more substantial changes in Sec. 3.4.3, references added