Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/iii/paper-115/4/a/solution

An affine connection on is an operation on smooth vector fields that is real-bilinear, linear over in the differentiating field, and satisfies
It is a connection on a vector bundle for the bundle , also called a linear connection on the manifold. Its curvature form of a connection has the operator form
This convention fixes its sign. Expanding the two connection product rules shows that the extra derivatives of a scalar cancel, so is linear over smooth functions in all three fields. For a Levi-Civita connection, this is the Riemann curvature tensor.
The torsion form is . For a Riemannian metric , its Levi-Civita connection is the unique torsion-free connection satisfying metric compatibility
Existence and uniqueness follow from the Koszul formula. In coordinates its coefficients are
Symmetry in gives zero torsion, and substitution verifies metric compatibility.

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