Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 56 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Represent affine complexified Minkowski space by complex matrices , with the conformal metric characterized by . Let an element of twistor space be , and identify nonzero twistors under , . The compact projective twistor space is . For affine space-time the corresponding open domain is the affine projective twistor spaceUse the twistor incidence relation in the convention ; the more usual factor can be absorbed into the complex coordinate . A point determines a twistor lineIn the two projective charts, fibre coordinates and differ by division by , giving the two summands. Two distinct space-time points have intersecting lines precisely when for some nonzero , equivalently ; this recovers conformal null separation.
The twistor correspondence is the double fibrationFor a fixed twistor, the incidence solutions form an affine alpha-plane, a two-dimensional totally null plane. Its tangent distribution on is generated byThese vector fields annihilate the incidence coordinates, since , and commute. This distribution is the geometric source of the linear system in the Penrose-Ward correspondence.
For the inverse construction, take a rank- holomorphic vector bundle on the twistor domain corresponding to a space-time open set . The crucial hypothesis isThese are line-trivial bundles in the Ward correspondence. It is not enough to specify an arbitrary holomorphic vector bundle, nor just zero First Chern class on its lines: has degree zero but is nontrivial. A line with a nontrivial splitting is a jumping line and does not support the regular linewise construction there. Thus a globally nonsingular field on all affine complexified space-time requires triviality on all its relevant lines; a local construction uses only the lines over .
Choose holomorphic vector bundle bundle frames on two twistor patches, and let be the invertible transition matrix on their overlap. Pull it back to . Because it comes from affine projective twistor space, it is constant along the -fibres:Triviality on supplies a global holomorphic bundle frame on that line. Comparing this global bundle frame with the two local bundle frames produces a holomorphic splitting of a twistor patching matrix,where and are holomorphic and invertible near the two affine patches of the complex projective line. The splitting can be chosen holomorphically in locally: the restrictions have independent global sections and , so these bundle frames extend through a neighborhood of the given line. This explains where regularity and linewise triviality enter the construction.
Differentiate the factorization using . Multiplication by the invertible factors givesDefine their common negative to be . It is regular on both projective patches and homogeneous of degree one in , because has that degree while the bundle frames have degree zero. ConsequentlyThis last conclusion is elementary: on one affine chart its entries are entire in ; regularity at infinity after dividing by the transition factor allows at most linear growth, so each entry is affine in . Equivalently, a global section of is a linear homogeneous polynomial. We have thereby recovered a gauge connection on the space-time bundle whose fibre is .
The splitting factors now obeyTheir invertibility implies the compatibility conditionsIn the spinor decomposition of gauge curvature,the two spinors are symmetric. The antisymmetric primed factor vanishes when contracted with , leaving . A quadratic polynomial that vanishes for every spinor has every coefficient zero, so . With the orientation convention used here, this is exactly anti-self-duality of gauge curvature, hence the ASDYM equations. This establishes the field equation from the holomorphic data, rather than assuming it as an extra input.
The construction naturally gives a gauge class. If another linewise splitting is chosen, agrees on the overlap and is holomorphic on the entire compact complex projective line; its entries are therefore independent of . Write this common matrix as . Thenthe ordinary Yang-Mills gauge transformation. Changing the original holomorphic vector bundle bundle frames or replacing by an isomorphic bundle produces the same space-time gauge class. A determinant trivialization or another holomorphic structure-group reduction gives the corresponding restriction from to or another complex gauge group.
For perspective, the forward direction starts from an ASD gauge connection and uses its flat gauge covariant derivative along each alpha-plane to descend parallel sections to affine projective twistor space. The reconstructed linear system is exactly that parallel-section system. Going back through it recovers the original line-trivial bundle, while changing space-time bundle frames amounts to Yang-Mills gauge transformation. Thus, locally and with the stated regularity and triviality conditions, holomorphic line-trivial bundles determine solutions of the ASDYM equations uniquely up to gauge.
No unitary reality condition is imposed on complexified Minkowski space in this question. Obtaining real Euclidean gauge fields requires the compatible antiholomorphic twistor involution and a bundle reality structure; obtaining finite-action instantons requires further global and boundary conditions. Those are additional restrictions on the complex correspondence, not automatic consequences of having any holomorphic vector bundle on projective twistor space.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 56 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use Euclidean coordinates and orientation . For , the gauge curvature is . The ASDYM equations are , equivalentlyPut , , with and similarly for . The bars label the complex conjugate coordinates on the Euclidean real slice; after complexification they can be treated as independent coordinates. A Lax pair for the anti-self-dual Yang-Mills equations isAt infinity rescale the operators and use the other affine coordinate. Their commutator isCompatibility for every is therefore precisely and . To verify the real component signs,The conjugate equation supplies the remaining real components. This is compatibility of an overdetermined system, not an additional field equation on for only one value of the spectral parameter.
Impose invariance under translations in , writing . In a symmetry-adapted gauge the potentials depend only on . A further -dependent Yang-Mills gauge transformation sets locally, by solving the usual parallel transport ordinary differential equation; it does not reintroduce spatial dependence. ThenThe three real equations above become , and , namelyThese are the Nahm equations. The orientation chosen above gives the requested plus sign; reversing orientation exchanges self-duality of gauge curvature and anti-self-duality of gauge curvature. Translation invariance here is a local dimensional reduction and is not a claim of finite four-dimensional action over all three translation directions.
To prove conservation, abbreviate , and , so and . Expanding the commutator, including the cancellation of the cubic term, givesThe Nahm equations giveThus the polynomial Lax representation of the Nahm equations isTake a finite-dimensional matrix representation of the Lie algebra and its complexification. For every positive integer , differentiating the product and using cyclicity of the matrix trace givesThis proves the trace invariants of a Lax equation directly. Since is a polynomial of degree at most in the affine coordinate , its derivative vanishes identically only if the derivative of every coefficient vanishes. Therefore every trace-polynomial coefficient is independent of . At projective infinity these polynomials are sections of ; they need not be constant functions of on the whole projective sphere.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 56 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Enforce the unit-vector constraint using a Lagrange multiplier :Integration by parts in a compactly supported variation gives . Contracting with gives , henceDifferentiating twice also gives , so an equivalent equation is . These are the harmonic map equations for the O3 nonlinear sigma model.
For arbitrary maps, the printed finite-energy compactification assertion is too strong. The following counterexample shows that finite sigma-model energy need not give a limit at infinity. Outside a large disk, setInterpolate smoothly to a constant inside the disk. There is no angular dependence, and the exterior energy isNevertheless the field keeps rotating and has no limit as . Thus energy integrability alone does not prove a continuous map on the one-point compactification.
The usual sigma-model lump sector adds the boundary condition uniformly as . Defining the value at the added point to be then gives a continuous map : neighborhoods of the point at infinity are precisely complements of compact subsets of the plane, and uniform convergence supplies continuity there. For the topological degree calculation using differential forms below, take a smooth compactified map, as in the regular lump sector. This boundary/regularity information is additional to finite energy for unrestricted fields.
Write and . Since and ,Also the given double-index charge reduces toFor , expanding the nonnegative square givesTherefore the Bogomolny degree bound for the O3 sigma model isThe charge integral is absolutely convergent already for finite-energy fields, because . The inequality itself consequently does not need the compactification hypothesis. Equality requires for chosen to have the sign of .
For the topological interpretation, the standard oriented area form on the target sphere isIts pullback is . The topological degree is defined by in . Pairing with givesEquivalently, the integer is the signed number of preimages of a regular value. It is invariant under smooth homotopy: if is that homotopy, then Stokes theorem and make the difference between the two charge integrals equal to . This identifies the charge as the degree charge of an O3 sigma-model lump, rather than merely an arbitrary energy integral.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 56 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The nonexistence conclusion concerns nonconstant fields: a constant scalar-field vacuum with is a zero-energy critical point of an energy functional in every dimension. Assume the potential is smooth, so the classical Euler-Lagrange equation is well defined. Write the two nonnegative energy terms asFor the admissible Derrick scaling ,Stationarity at gives the Derrick virial identityFor , both terms have nonpositive sign, forcing and hence a constant vacuum. For , scaling alone only proves ; the gradient term is scale invariant, so it must not simply be declared zero.
The two-dimensional flat-target Derrick obstruction supplies that remaining step. Since and its integral is zero, continuity gives everywhere; smooth nonnegative has at those values. The field equation therefore becomes . Each is an entire harmonic function in . Its mean value property and the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality give, for every radius ,Let to get . Thus also has only constant stationary field configurations of finite energy. The unconstrained real scalar target is essential in this argument; the spherical target in Question 2 has different field equations.
In the field equation is . Multiplication by gives the first integralFinite energy makes an integrable nonnegative function, so along some sequence it tends to zero. Evaluating the constant first integral on that sequence gives . ChooseConsequently andFor a nonconstant entire solution the sign is fixed. Indeed a finite- zero of would have ; uniqueness of the smooth second-order equation with initial data would make the solution the constant vacuum. Thus never vanishes in a nonconstant solution. Conversely a smooth solution of the displayed first-order equation satisfies wherever it is nonconstant.
Under the usual soliton boundary conditions as , with in the vacuum manifold , the two endpoint components label the topological sector. For isolated scalar-field vacua this is an ordered pair of vacuum labels, not necessarily one universally normalized integer. More explicitly, for any smooth , the topological currentis identically conserved, taking and boundary conditions fixed during evolution. The choices and give the field-difference charge and the kink energy charge. The square completion for a one-dimensional kink givesThe first-order critical solution saturates this Bogomolny bound. A nonzero difference between endpoint vacuum components prevents continuous deformation to a vacuum while those boundary conditions remain fixed. Finite energy alone need not give finite endpoint values for arbitrary potentials, so these topological labels use the stated vacuum boundary conditions.
To evade the scalar-only obstruction, introduce a gauge field and a charged, generally multicomponent Higgs field. For a Yang-Mills-Higgs energy write , where contains and contains . Rescale and . Then scales by , while scales by , soThe magnetic term supplies the missing opposing scaling power. In the relation is , permitting Abelian Higgs vortices; in it is , permitting 't Hooft-Polyakov monopoles. In the monopole Bogomolny limit , achieves . Also, asymptotic ordinary derivatives need not vanish when a Higgs phase winds: the relevant vanishing quantity is the gauge covariant derivative. This allows nontrivial boundary winding with finite energy. Merely appending a gauge potential to a neutral one-component real field would not by itself furnish that Higgs mechanism.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 55 6 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Work with metric , and , where are the Pauli matrices. The supercharges of four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetry form one Weyl spinor and its conjugate . Dotted and undotted indices cannot be interchanged; the conjugate charge in the printed mixed relation has a dotted index.
A direct derivation starts from superspace coordinates , with the four odd coordinates generating a Grassmann algebra. Use left Grassmann derivatives, soOdd derivatives anticommute with one another, and multiplication by distinct odd coordinates also anticommutes. The operators specified by the question can be writtenTheir coefficients do not depend on , hence . Within , the two odd derivative terms anticommute; the derivatives of the barred-coordinate coefficients vanish; and the two barred-coordinate multiplication terms cancel because the coordinates anticommute while the spacetime derivatives commute. ThusThis realizes the minimal algebra with no extra tensorial charges.
For the mixed anticommutator, split each operator into its odd derivative and odd-coordinate parts. The derivative/derivative anticommutator is zero. The coordinate/coordinate terms also cancel, since . The two remaining pieces areAdding gives the superspace differential realization of N=1 supercharges:In particular the differentiated-coordinate contributions have the same sign, not opposite signs. The graded product rule is the essential step; treating these as ordinary commuting-coordinate derivatives would give an incorrect algebra.
To obtain the Lorentz part, let transform as a four-vector and in conjugate spinor representations. DefineThe Pauli matrix multiplication law gives the intertwining identityIt shows that the two terms in transform together as a covariant Weyl spinor: the coordinate derivative transforms in the dual spinor representation, while the barred-coordinate/spacetime-derivative term transforms in that same representation through this identity. Infinitesimally, with , its transformation is . Comparing with the first-order expansion of givesIf the paper's spin matrix is denoted , this is exactly its first displayed relation. Defining that spin matrix without the factor instead requires an explicit in the commutator; this is a generator convention, not a different algebra. The conjugate relation follows by Hermitian conjugation.
Combining the Lorentz transformation with the differential computations gives the Super-Poincaré algebra in the question's notation:The even generators retain the ordinary Poincare algebra. As a closure check, the even superspace variation gives , and . Two such variations commute to a translation by , with zero commutator on the odd coordinates, reproducing the same normalization and showing why the anticommutator produces momentum.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 55 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Set , the domain in which the Kähler potential is defined, and use Planck units. The nonzero entries of the Kähler metric and its inverse areThe Kähler covariant derivatives of a superpotential areDenote and . The supergravity F-term potential isHere the contribution is exactly , cancelling the negative term. This is the no-scale supergravity identity, givingThe cancellation is important: replacing the covariant derivatives by ordinary derivatives would miss both the matter dependence and the possibility of zero vacuum energy with supersymmetry breaking.
In the convention , the chiral supergravity auxiliary fields areAn overall auxiliary phase or sign convention does not change their vanishing conditions. These are upper-index fields, including the inverse Kähler metric, rather than just the covariant derivatives.
Since is nonnegative and vanishes at , its minimum energy isThere are additional minima that should not be discarded by examining only real . For , the condition becomesIf , the magnitude equationhas exactly one positive root: its left side is strictly increasing from zero to infinity. There are three phases, differing by , determined by . Thus for nonzero the finite zero-energy matter vacua consist of and these three nonzero phase-related values, each with arbitrary in the allowed half-plane. At a nonzero matter vacuum,At , .
For , every such minimum has but , so supersymmetry is spontaneously broken despite zero vacuum energy. Indeed no finite point anywhere is fully supersymmetric: would force , after which forces and then . This proves breaking for the specified nonzero-constant case without relying just on the positivity of the potential.
For the allowed exceptional value (B=0), the requested breaking statement is false. Then vanishes only at , where . Every finite allowed gives an unbroken supersymmetric vacuum with zero energy. This is an explicit counterexample to unqualified breaking for an arbitrary complex .
Both real components of are flat directions of a scalar potential along every minimum: the imaginary component never appears in , and when the entire dependence is multiplied by zero. The matter vacua are isolated in the plane; there is no continuous matter vacuum direction. At the potential begins quartically in , so zero quadratic mass is not a flat vacuum manifold. Away from , the real direction instead has and a decompactification-type runaway towards zero as , not a further finite positive-energy minimum.
The gravitino mass from a superpotential isAt the branch it is ; at each nonzero branch it is . Its value is not fixed because the modulus is flat. For it vanishes at the supersymmetric minimum. For nonzero , the super-Higgs mechanism absorbs the Goldstino associated with into the massive gravitino. The zero-energy relation is explicitly satisfied:which balances the auxiliary contribution against the gravitational negative term.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 55 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take canonical kinetic terms, gauge coupling , and a nonzero charge . Define and choose the convention in which the Fayet–Iliopoulos term contributes to the Lagrangian. With one charged chiral superfield, gauge invariance permits no nonconstant polynomial superpotential; an irrelevant global constant gives . The real auxiliary field part isIts equation of motion is . Eliminating it gives the D-term scalar potentialThe gaugino transformation has the form a field-strength term, with a convention-dependent overall phase. In a translationally invariant vacuum with zero field strength, a nonzero therefore gives an inhomogeneous shift of : no nonzero supersymmetry parameter leaves the vacuum invariant. The massless Goldstino is consequently the gaugino, not the matter fermion, since .
Minimize the potential over . If , the allowed value sets , so supersymmetry is unbroken while the internal gauge symmetry is Higgsed. If , the origin also has . For the broken branch, and the formal zero of would require negative . The actual minimum isThis is single charged-field D-term breaking. Nonzero FI parameter alone does not force breaking if a scalar can cancel it. The degenerate case is different: any breaks supersymmetry in the vector sector while the neutral scalar remains flat; the sign test above assumes an actually charged field.
Expand around the broken vacuum:For , both canonically normalized real scalars have squared mass . The matter Weyl spinor has no superpotential mass. The gauge boson remains massless because . The gauge Yukawa coupling, proportional to , gives no fermion mixing or mass at this vacuum, so the gaugino is also massless. The tree-level spectrum is thereforeand the chiral-multiplet splitting isThe vector and its gaugino happen to remain degenerate at zero mass even though supersymmetry is broken. If the sign convention for the FI contribution is reversed, the sign criterion changes accordingly; the invariant condition is that the scalar condensate cannot cancel the auxiliary source. This is the classical toy-model spectrum; a quantum completion of the single charged-fermion theory also has to cancel its gauge anomalies.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 55 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use a flat five-dimensional metric of signature and a circle coordinate . Start with the canonically normalized Maxwell actionExpand the real Maxwell field in a Fourier series:The circle integral makes different modes orthogonal. Writing and , the resulting four-dimensional action isThe scalar sign is positive because the fifth direction is spacelike in the chosen mostly-minus metric. This expression follows directly by separating the and the two identical contributions in .
A five-dimensional gauge transformation acts on its modes byFor , define the gauge-invariant vectorThen , so its term is a Proca field mass term . Equivalently, a periodic mode-dependent gauge transformation sets . The nonzero modes are massive vectors whose longitudinal polarization is supplied by through the Stueckelberg mechanism:For each positive there is one complex vector, equivalently the two real sine/cosine vectors, each with three physical polarizations. The negative mode is its conjugate, not another independent complex field. This is the infinite Kaluza-Klein tower of the Maxwell reduction on a circle.
At , under periodic infinitesimal gauge transformations. The zero modes are a massless vector with two polarizations and a real massless scalar with one. The scalar is the circle component, or Wilson line degree of freedom; a generic constant value cannot be removed by a periodic gauge parameter. Both have . At energies , the free theory's low-energy effective action is thereforeThere is no scalar potential in this free Maxwell theory. If the original action instead has coefficient and unrescaled constant zero-mode fields are used, integrating the circle gives ; canonical field rescaling recovers the normalization displayed above.
For the gravitational part, allow a circle radius field with vacuum value , and use a dimensionless angle in the Kaluza-Klein theory ansatzThe vector comes from off-diagonal metric components; is the radion. Perform the coordinate transformation , leaving unchanged. Since , the metric has the same form withThus a higher-dimensional diffeomorphism becomes an Abelian gauge transformation in the reduced theory. Changing the sign convention for the internal coordinate shift reverses the displayed sign without changing its content.
More generally, continuous internal isometries give lower-dimensional gauge symmetries, with vector fields from metric components along the corresponding Killing vector fields. The circle translation group gives . A scalar mode transforms as , so transforms covariantly. This derives Kaluza-Klein charge quantization in the chosen vector normalization. The metric vector is a graviphoton; if a five-dimensional Maxwell field is present as well, its zero-mode photon is a separate field originating from that Maxwell gauge symmetry.
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