Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/ib/paper-2/16c/solution

A gauge transformation is
Because partial derivatives commute, the added contribution to is
so the electromagnetic field tensor is gauge invariant.
Define
Since and ,
The identity
follows directly from . Its spatial and mixed components are
For the other two equations define the four-current
Then gives
and gives
This is the Covariant Maxwell equation with the minus-plus-plus-plus metric.
Using
one finds
This is the electromagnetic energy density.
For a null vector, the trace term in vanishes. Put
Antisymmetry gives . A vector orthogonal to a null vector has nonnegative Minkowski norm, so
Explicitly, in a frame with ,
Hence the null energy condition for the electromagnetic field is strict whenever the contraction is nonzero:

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