Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/iii/paper-309/2/solution

At each point, apply the indefinite-signature version of the Gram-Schmidt process to any local coframe, choosing one timelike and three spacelike one-forms. This produces an orthonormal coframe in spacetime satisfying
It is unique only up to a local Lorentz transformation. The torsion-free connection 1-forms are then determined by Cartan's first structure equation and metric compatibility,
Cartan's second structure equation gives the curvature 2-forms
and contraction gives the Ricci tensor .
For the displayed metric, take
Then and . The nonzero connection forms are therefore
with . A second application of the structure equations gives
Equivalently,
so this is a constant sectional curvature spacetime with . In four dimensions,
The Vacuum Einstein equations with a cosmological constant are , and hence
The metric is the contracting flat slicing of de Sitter spacetime with curvature radius one.

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