Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-relativity-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/4/solution

Curvature contractions. Use the index contraction stipulated in the question. In three dimensions,
The same contraction in four dimensions gives
Then the Ricci scalar is and the Einstein tensor is . Thus is precisely the vacuum Einstein field equations .
The static solution. For , and . The given Ricci tensor components become
Each equals times the corresponding metric tensor component. Therefore
This is Anti-de Sitter spacetime in static coordinates on anti-de Sitter spacetime, with curvature radius . The overall metric signature is opposite to the convention used in some descriptions of those coordinates; the geodesic constants below use the question's convention.
Conserved quantities and radial motion. In the equatorial plane, the geodesic Lagrangian is . Its cyclic coordinates give
For rest mass , is the conserved Killing energy and is the axial angular momentum. Timelike normalization gives
For purely radial motion , differentiating away from a turning point gives , and continuity extends that equation through the turning point. An outward launch from the origin at has
This is the radial timelike geodesic in anti-de Sitter spacetime. Its first return to the origin is
independent of the outward launch speed for every nontrivial launch . The coordinate is nonnegative, so this sine expression describes the excursion up to that return; subsequent passage through the origin requires changing the radial direction or using a signed diameter coordinate. The speed changes the amplitude, not the harmonic frequency.
Circular periods. The effective radial potential is . For a circle at , gives , and normalization gives . Thus and . A stable circular timelike geodesic in anti-de Sitter spacetime therefore has
independently of radius. This is the same isochronous behavior as the central harmonic radial equation. A static clock placed at the orbit's radius instead measures , which does depend on radius; it is a different clock from the orbiting particle's proper time.

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