Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2023/iii/paper-311/2/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 311 2 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-09-28
Locally write the null hypersurface as a level set and its normal as . Since a null normal is also tangent, lies within the hypersurface. The symmetry of the Levi-Civita connection givesThe scalar vanishes on the hypersurface, so its gradient there is normal and hence proportional to :This is the nonaffine geodesic equation. A rescaling of removes , proving that the null hypersurface normal generates null geodesics lying in the hypersurface.
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