Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/iii/paper-51/1/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 51 1 Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use geometrized units and metric signature ; is proper time. The Killing vectors and of the Schwarzschild metric give the conserved specific Killing energy and specific angular momentumPut . In the equatorial plane , and normalization of the four-velocity givesChoosing the inward branch therefore yieldsThe divergence of the time component at the Schwarzschild event horizon is a coordinate effect; the inward radial component tends to .
Capture from infinity. To reach the event horizon from infinity, the radial square must remain nonnegative throughout . Equivalently,Differentiating the right side gives , so its minimum occurs at and equals . Thusis the necessary capture bound. At equality the radial numerator is . An inward particle arriving from larger radii approaches the unstable orbit only after infinite proper time, because is proportional to near that orbit. Actual plunges from infinity require . This is Schwarzschild marginally bound capture.
The origin-at-infinity hypothesis is important and is not explicit in the PDF. A particle already inside the angular-momentum barrier can plunge with larger . For example, and initial radius give positive radial numerator , remaining positive as decreases to . This trajectory has and reaches the event horizon. Thus an unrestricted claim about every inward particle would be false; the bound is the intended capture-from-infinity statement.
Invariant collision energy. At a collision, the total four-momentum is . The invariant center-of-mass energy uses the covariant metric:The PDF instead prints a raised metric multiplying raised velocities. That contraction is not a tensor scalar; the corrected expression above, or a raised metric with lowered momenta, is required. Since each four-velocity has norm ,Let . For two inward trajectories the radial product is positive, and direct substitution into the Schwarzschild metric givesPutting these terms over one denominator proves
Horizon limit and the upper bound. A cancellation-free way to take the limit is to write and . As ,Henceand thereforeFor particles captured from infinity, , giving in the horizon limit. For actual captured trajectories the inequality is strict, but the supremum is approached by and . Their azimuthal starting positions can be chosen so that the trajectories meet. If particles may instead be prepared near the event horizon, the counterexample , has limiting energy ; no universal bound then follows.
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