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Dr Volker Perlick

Temporary Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow
(in German: Alter Forschungskumpel)

Volker Perlick

Room: C35 Physics Building
Tel: +44 (0)1524 592258
Fax: +44 (0)1524 844037
Email: v.perlick@lancaster.ac.uk

Curriculum Vitae

  • Born 28 March 1956 in Berlin, Germany
  • Diploma in Physics 1984, TU Berlin
  • Doctoral Dissertation (Dr. rer. nat.) 1989, TU Berlin, with Prof. K.-E. Hellwig;
    Thesis: Zur Kinematik Weylscher Raum-Zeit-Modelle
  • Habilitation (Venia Legendi for Theoretical Physics) 1999, TU Berlin
    Habilitation Thesis: Ray optics, Fermat's principle, and applications togeneral relativity
    published as Springer Lecture Notes in Physics m61, Springer, Heidelberg
    (2000), more information
  • Some of my earlier Positions:
    • Scientific Coworker (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) at TU Berlin,
      Germany (1985-1989)
    • Locum Tenens Contract (Vertretung von apl. Prof. H.-J. Schmidt) at
      Universität Osnabrück, Germany (1992-1993)
    • Scientific Coworker (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) at
      Albert-Einstein-Institut Golm, Germany (1999-2002)
    • Locum Tenens Contract (Vertretung C3 Nachfolge Prof. F. W. Hehl)
      at Universität zu Köln, Germany (2002-2003)
  • Scholarships:
    • Wigner Stipend 1989-90
    • Habilitation Stipend from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft 1992-1995
    • DAAD/FAPESP Stipends 1997 and 1999
  • Some of my research stays:
    • University of Texas at Dallas, USA (with Wolfgang Rindler) (1989-1990)
    • University of Missouri at Columbia, USA (with John Beem) (1990)
    • Universität Jena, Germany (with Gernot Neugebauer) (1993-1994)
    • Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil (with Paolo Piccione) (1997 and 1999)
  • Member of Beirat of Fachverband Gravitation und Relativätstheorie in Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft 1994 - 2006, Vice-Chairman of this Fachverband
    2000 - 2004 homepage of Fachverband
  • Book Review Editor of the journal General Relativity and Gravitation since 1999, journal homepage
  • Coorganizer of conferences:
    • Kolloquium zum 60. Geburtstag von K.-E. Hellwig
      Org: M. Keyl, V. Perlick, W. Stulpe, M. Trucks
      Berlin, 25. - 26. April 1996, program
    • Aktuelle Entwicklungen in der Gravitationstheorie
      Org.: C. Kiefer, V. Perlick, G. Schäfer
      Physikzentrum Bad Honnef, 6. - 8. September 1999, program
    • Mathematical Relativity. New ideas and developments
      Org: J. Frauendiener, D. Giulini, V. Perlick
      319. Heraeus Seminar, Physikzentrum Bad Honnef, 1. - 5. March 2004
      conference photo

Teaching

In the academic year 2008/2009 I will be teaching in Lancaster

  • PHYS113: Series and Differential Equations
  • PHYS131: Vectors and Vector Algebra
  • PHYS231: Waves and Optics
  • PHYS274: Classical Fields
  • PHYS320: General Physics Exam

Teaching from my pre-Lancaster period includes:

  • Allgemeine Relativitätstheorie, Summer Term 1986,
    TU Berlin, Germany
  • Oberstufenmathematik für Physiker, Compact Course, Winter Term 1992/93,
    Universität Osnabrück, Germany
  • Mathematische Methoden der Physik I, Winter Term 1992/93,
    Universität Osnabrück, Germany
  • Mathematische Methoden der Physik II, Summer Term 93,
    Universität Osnabrück, Germany
  • Mathematische Kosmologie, Summer Term 93,
    Universität Osnabrück, Germany
  • Singularity theorems in general relativity, Sep.-Nov. 1997,
    Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
  • Singularity theorems in general relativity, Compact Course, Nov. 1999,
    Università di Camerino, Italy
  • Gravitationslinsen, Winter Term 2002/03,
    Universität zu Köln, Germany
  • Theoretische Optik I, Summer Term 2003,
    Universität zu Köln, Germany
  • Theoretische Optik II, Winter Term 2003/04,
    Universität zu Köln, Germany
  • Gravitational Lensing, Compact Course, Summer Term 2004,
    Universität Hannover, Germany

Research Interests

My background is in general relativity. For many years, my research was centered on the theory of gravitational lensing. In its most general sense, the name "gravitational lensing" comprises all influences of gravitational fields (coded in the spacetime geometry) on light rays. More specifically, I have been concentrating on those mathematical methods where the formalism of general relativity is not mutilated by quasi-Newtonian approximations. This kind of research goes under the heading "gravitational lensing from a spacetime perspective" or "non-perturbative gravitational lensing", please see my Living Review: Gravitational lensing from a spacetime perspective, Living Rev. Relativity 7 (2004) 9 [Online Article] http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2004-9

In October 2006 I joined, with great pleasure, the Mathematical Physics Group at Lancaster University which is headed by Robin Tucker. Since then my research is focussed on Electrodynamics, in particular on theoretical models for the motion of charged particles in accelerators. Actually, this was not a very big change of subject. I had always been interested in the theory of electromagnetic fields, see my book Ray optics, Fermat's principle, and applications to general relativity, Springer, Heidelberg (2000)

Publications

Books and Review Articles

  1. V. Perlick: Ray optics, Fermat's principle, and applications to general relativity, Springer Lecture Notes in Physics m61, Springer, Heidelberg (2000), more information
  2. V. Perlick: Gravitational lensing from a geometric viewpoint, in B. Schmidt (ed.) "Einstein's field equations and their physical interpretations" Selected Essays in Honour of Jürgen Ehlers, Springer, Heidelberg (2000) pp.373-425 pdf-file
  3. V. Perlick: Gravitational lensing from a spacetime perspective, Living Rev. Relativity 7 (2004) 9 [Online Article] http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2004-9
  4. J. Frauendiener, D. Giulini, V. Perlick (eds.): Mathematical relativity. New ideas and developments, Proceedings of the 319. Heraeus Seminar, Bad Honnef, March 1 - 5, 2004, to appear 2005, Springer, Heidelberg conference photo
  5. M. Kriele, V. Perlick: Spacetime, 2nd edition, Springer, Heidelberg, to appear (some time, in the future, I hope ... )

Research Articles

  1. V. Perlick: Characterization of standard clocks by means of light rays and freely falling particles, Gen. Rel. Grav. 19, 1059-1073 (1987)
  2. W. Hasse, V. Perlick: Geometrical and kinematical characterization of parallax-free world models, J. Math. Phys. 29, 2064-2068 (1988)
  3. V. Perlick: On redshift and parallaxes in general-relativistic kinematical world models, J. Math. Phys. 31, 1962-1971 (1990)
  4. W. Rindler, V. Perlick: Rotating coordinates as tools for calculating circular geodesics and gyroscopic precession, Gen. Rel. Grav. 22, 1067-1081 (1990)
  5. V. Perlick: On Fermat's principle in general relativity. I. The general case, Class Quant. Grav. 7, 1319-1331 (1990)
  6. V. Perlick: On Fermat's principle in general relativity. II. The conformally stationary case, Class Quant. Grav. 7, 1849-1867 (1990)
  7. V. Perlick: Observer fields in Weylian spacetime models, Class. Quant. Grav. 8, 1369-1385 (1991)
  8. V. Perlick: A class of stationary charged dust solutions of Einstein's field equations, Gen. Rel. Grav. 23, 1337-1348 (1991)
  9. V. Perlick: The brachystochrone problem in stationary space-times, J. Math. Phys. 32, 3148-3157 (1991)
  10. V. Perlick: The Hamiltonization problem from a global viewpoint, J. Math. Phys. 33, 599-606 (1992)
  11. V. Perlick: Bertrand spacetimes, Class. Quant. Grav. 9, 1009-1021 (1992)
  12. V. Perlick, W. Hasse: Gravitational Faraday effect in conformally stationary spacetimes, Class. Quant. Grav. 10, 147-161 (1993)
  13. V. Perlick: Characterization of standard clocks, in U. Majer, H.-J. Schmidt (eds.) "Semantical aspects of spacetime", BI Wissenschaftsverlag, Mannheim (1994) pp. 169-180
  14. V. Perlick, Xu C.: Matching exterior to interior solutions in Weyl gravity, Astrophys. J. 449, 47-51 (1995) pdf-file
  15. V. Perlick: Infinite dimensional Morse theory and Fermat's principle in general relativity. I., J. Math. Phys. 36, 6915-6928 (1995)
  16. V. Perlick: Criteria for multiple imaging in Lorentzian manifolds, Class. Quant. Grav. 13, 529-537 (1996)
  17. W. Hasse, M. Kriele, V. Perlick: Caustics of wavefronts in general relativity, Class. Quant. Grav. 13, 1161-1182 (1996)
  18. V. Perlick: Fermat's principle, Morse theory and applications to the gravitational lens effect, Nonlinear Analysis 30, 617-615 (1997)
  19. V. Perlick, P. Piccione: A general-relativistic Fermat principle for extended light sources and extended receivers, Gen. Rel. Grav. 30, 1461-1476 (1998) pdf-file
  20. V. Perlick: Applications of Morse theory to gravitational lensing, in H.-J. Schmidt (ed.) "Current topics in mathematical topology", World Scientific, Singapore (1998) pp. 155-164
  21. W. Hasse, V. Perlick: On spacetime models with an isotropic Hubble law, Class. Quant. Grav. 16, 2559-2576 (1999) pdf-file
  22. V. Perlick: Gravitational lensing in asymptotically simple and empty spacetimes, Annalen der Physik 9, SI139-SI142 (2000) pdf-file
  23. V. Perlick: A variational principle for light rays in a general-relativistic plasma, Nonlinear Analysis 47, 3019-3030 (2001)
  24. V. Perlick: Global properties of gravitational lens maps in a Lorentzian manifold setting, Commun. Math. Phys. 220, 403-428 (2001) gr-qc/0009105
  25. T. Chrobok, V. Perlick: Classification of image distortion in terms of Petrov types, Class. Quant. Grav. 18, 3059-3079 (2001) gr-qc/0012088
  26. W. Hasse, V. Perlick: Gravitational lensing in spherically symmetric static spacetimes with centrifugal force reversal, Gen. Rel. Grav. 34, 415-433 (2002) gr-qc/0108002
  27. V. Perlick: Rotation of the polarization plane in the gravitational field of rotating objects, in R. Ruffini and C. Sigismondi (eds.) "Nonlinear gravitodynamics: The Lense-Thirring effect" Proceedings of the ICRA Network Workshop on the Lense-Thirring Effect, Rome and Pescara, 1998; World Scientific (2003) pp.135-144
  28. T. Foertsch, W. Hasse, V. Perlick: Inertial forces and photon surfaces in abitrary spacetimes, Class. Qant. Grav. 20, 4635-4651 (2003) gr-qc/0306042
  29. V. Perlick: Exact gravitational lens equation in spherically symmetric and static spacetimes, Phys. Rev. D69, 064017 (2004) gr-qc/0307072
  30. V. Perlick: On totally umbilic submanifolds in semi-Riemannian manifolds, Nonlinear Analysis 63/5-7, e511-e518 (2005) gr-qc/0512066
  31. S.G. Turyshev, H. Dittus, M. Shao, K.L. Nordtvedt, Jr., C. Laemmerzahl, S. Theil, W. Ertmer, E. Rasel, R. Foerstner, U. Johann, S. Klioner, M. Soffel, B. Dachwald, W. Seboldt, V. Perlick, M.C.W. Sandford, R. Bingham, B. Kent, T.J. Sumner, O. Bertolami, J.Paramos, B. Christophe, B. Foulon, P. Touboul, P. Bouyer, T. Damour, S. Reynaud, C. Salomon, A. Brillet, F. Bondu, J.-F. Mangin, E. Samain, C. Erd, J.C. Grenouilleau, D. Izzo, A. Rathke, S.W. Asmar, M. Colavita, Y. Gursel, et al: Fundamental Physics with the Laser Astrometric Test Of Relativity, ESA Spec.Publ. 588, 11-18 (2005) gr-qc/0506104
  32. V. Perlick: Fermat Principle in Finsler Spacetimes, Gen. Rel. Grav. 38, 365-380 (2006) gr-qc/0508029
  33. W. Hasse, V. Perlick: A Morse-theoretical analysis of gravitational lensing by a Kerr-Newman black hole, J. Math. Phys. 47, 042503 (2006) gr-qc/0511135
  34. V. Perlick: On the radar method in general-relativistic spacetimes, in H. Dittus, C. Laemmerzahl, S. G. Turyshev (eds.) ''Lasers, Clocks, and Drag-Free Control. Exploration of Relativistic Gravity in Space.'' Springer (2007) arXiv:0708.0170
  35. V. Perlick: Theoretical gravitational lensing. Beyond the weak-field small-angle approximation, in H. Kleinert, R. T. Jantzen, R. Ruffini (eds.) ''Proceedings of the 11th Marcel Grossman Meeting on General Relativity'' World Scientific (2008) pp680-700. (Written version of Rapporteur Talk.) arXiv:0708.0178
  36. V. Perlick: On the generalized Jacobi equation, Gen. Rel. Grav. 40 1029-1045 (2008) arXiv:0710.2667
  37. W. Hasse, V. Perlick: On timelike surfaces in Lorentzian manifolds, to appear in M. Scherfner and M. Plaue (eds.): "Advances in Lorentzian Geometry" (2008) arXiv:0806.4315