Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2003/iii/paper-57/4/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 57 4 a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A smooth principal bundle with structure Lie group can be specified by a locally trivial map whose fiber coordinate changes have the form , with the usual transition functions of a principal bundle cocycle on triple overlaps. In each chart define . On overlaps, , so these local right actions agree. They therefore give a global smooth right group action, free and transitive on every fiber. Equivalently, this action together with equivariant local triviality is the definition of a principal bundle.
Use five-dimensional Minkowski spacetime with ambient metric and realize unit-radius de Sitter spacetime as . Its tangent space is , of Lorentzian signature . An oriented pseudo-orthonormal frame of , together with the last column , is precisely a matrixConversely the last column of such a matrix lies on the hyperboloid, and its other columns give that frame. ThusRight multiplication by fixes and changes the tangent frame by . It is free and transitive on frames over , proving the principal bundle description. Smooth local choices of frames provide its local trivializations. The dimensions are .
This is the oriented frame bundle of de Sitter spacetime. Allowing orientation reversal gives and structure group ; imposing a time orientation as well selects and . For radius , take the last column .
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