Selected Solutions of Einstein’s Field Equations: Their Role in General Relativity and Astrophysics -- The Cauchy Problem for the Einstein Equations -- Post-Newtonian Gravitational Radiation -- Duality and Hidden Symmetries in Gravitational Theories -- Time-Independent Gravitational Fields -- Gravitational Lensing from a Geometric Viewpoint.

This book serves two purposes. The authors present important aspects of modern research on the mathematical structure of Einstein's field equations and they show how to extract their physical content from them by mathematically exact methods. The essays are devoted to exact solutions and to the Cauchy problem of the field equations as well as to post-Newtonian approximations that have direct physical implications. Further topics concern quantum gravity and optics in gravitational fields. The book addresses researchers in relativity and differential geometry but can also be used as additional reading material for graduate students.