Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2009/iii/paper-56/3/d/ii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 56 3 d ii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For the radial null pair above, the screen-space projector selects the angular tangent plane, with metric . The ingoing covector is , and . Hence the optical tensor isIt is purely symmetric and proportional to the screen metric, givingFor , the null expansion is . The area check and gives , in agreement with the spherical null expansion in ingoing coordinates. In vacuum, also satisfies the Null Raychaudhuri equation; the ingoing beam focuses at the singularity rather than remaining future complete.
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