Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/iii/paper-52/4/b/ii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 52 4 b ii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Levi-Civita connection is the unique affine connection that has both vanishing torsion tensor and metric compatibility. The affine connection decomposition shows exactly how an arbitrary affine connection departs from it: the contorsion tensor contributes the metric-compatible torsion correction, and the disformation tensor contributes the nonmetricity correction. The torsion and nonmetricity tensor, together with the metric tensor, determine the difference uniquely.
In the paper's convention the actual contorsion correction is , with the corrected half factor from part (i), and the disformation correction is . Both corrections are tensors, although the separate connection coefficients and are not tensors. If both torsion and nonmetricity vanish, then . Vanishing nonmetricity alone permits torsion, and vanishing torsion alone permits nonmetricity.
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