Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2012/iii/paper-58/section-i/ii/solution

Locally write the null hypersurface as , , with normal , . A vector is tangent exactly when . Nullness gives on the hypersurface. Hence : its normal direction lies inside its tangent space.
Put and . Torsion freedom gives . Since vanishes on , all tangential derivatives vanish there and there for a scalar . Consequently
This is the unparametrized null geodesic equation. The integral curves are therefore generators of . An affine rescaling of a null normal removes the proportionality coefficient locally: if , set with .

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