Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2010/iii/paper-53/3/i/solution

In Questions 3–4, use primes for conformal-time derivatives and ; proper-time derivatives will be stated separately. Let . The metric is a covariant tensor, so under the passive coordinate change ,
The inverse Jacobian is to first order. At the same new coordinate argument, the homogeneous background satisfies . Shifting the argument of or multiplying it by a Jacobian perturbation produces only second-order terms, which we discard. Subtracting the unperturbed metric therefore gives
This is the printed Jacobian expression expanded to linear order, equivalently . It is a gauge transformation in cosmological perturbation theory, not a change of the physical spacetime.

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