Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/ii/paper-3/34a/i/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 3 34A i Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Vary the four-potential with compactly supported variation. Antisymmetry of the electromagnetic field tensor gives . Integration by parts therefore givesThus the Euler-Lagrange field equation is .
A gauge transformation is . Commuting derivatives leave unchanged. At , the source term changes by , a boundary term because the current is conserved. With suitable boundary conditions the action is gauge invariant. For , the mass term changes by terms involving , so the same arbitrary gauge transformations are not a symmetry.
Take the divergence of the field equation. Antisymmetry gives , and conservation gives . Thus . For this is the Lorenz constraint in Proca theory, and expanding givesFor the same reduced equation holds when the Lorenz gauge is imposed. More generally it is enough that the divergence be spacetime constant, but the conventional vanishing boundary conditions set that constant to zero.
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