ADM formalism 2026-10-14
The Arnowitt-Deser-Misner formalism expresses general relativity as constrained Hamiltonian evolution of a spatial metric and its conjugate momentum after a 3+1 decomposition of spacetime. Lapse and shift enforce the Hamiltonian and momentum constraints. For an asymptotically flat spacetime its boundary Hamiltonian gives the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner energy.
ADM momentum constraint for a P(X, phi) scalar field Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Varying the shift in the 3+1 decomposition of spacetime gives a nondynamical momentum constraint. For a field it equates the spatial divergence of to the scalar momentum density.
Nonlinear scalar metric in a cosmological gradient expansion Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
With vectors and independent tensors neglected, finite scalar cosmological perturbations of the local spatial scale can be encoded by . Scalar lapse and shift potentials complete its 3+1 decomposition of spacetime. The exact shift-square term is , independently of the parametrization of the scalar shift.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 52 3 v Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the equivalent density form of harmonic slicing from part (ii). With , positive lapse function , and the corrected inverse metric tensor, its time component becomesThus , orThe spatial volume evolution identity gives . Subtraction yields , hence the harmonic lapse evolution isThe shift vector need not vanish; its transport term is essential in a general 3+1 decomposition of spacetime.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 309 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Take the orientation induced by the future-directed unit normal and positive lapse function . In coordinates adapted to the 3+1 decomposition of spacetime, any component with all four indices spatial vanishes: only three distinct spatial indices are available. The shift vector therefore contributes nothing, andHere is the Levi-Civita symbol, and the last equality uses the metric determinant in a 3+1 decomposition, . The right side is precisely the spatial metric volume tensor, with component at , the appropriate permutation sign, and zero for repeated indices. HenceMore invariantly, the spatial volume form is the restriction to the hypersurface of the contraction of the spacetime volume form with .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 312 1 a i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Write for the spatial metric tensor and lower the shift vector with . For the negative-shift convention, the four-dimensional metric and its inverse have componentsThe normal has covariant components , so and it annihilates every tangent vector to the spatial slice. Since , its covariant derivative gives and therefore .
Compute the required Christoffel symbol using the symmetric connection formula. Its time-index term and spatial-index term combine to giveThe spatial expression in parentheses is , where is the covariant derivative of . Thus the extrinsic curvature with a negative shift isThis derivation fixes both signs from the actual 3+1 decomposition of spacetime, rather than transferring a formula using the opposite shift vector convention. The connection formula used here has as its second differentiated term; the printed repeated-index version is a typographical error.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 357 2 c Solution 2026-09-28
Comparison with the 3+1 decomposition of spacetime gives the diagonal spatial metricThe mixed metric coefficient is . Raising its index with yields the shift vectorNowand . The positive lapse function is consequently
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 312 2 i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The inverse 3+1 decomposition of spacetime metric givesThe first term is the squared derivative along the hypersurface normal and the second is the spatial-gradient contribution.
With a future unit timelike normal in signature , this convention makes the extrinsic curvature trace equal to the normal congruence's expansion, . An expanding flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric has and . This is the opposite sign to the negative-expansion convention used in many 3+1 decomposition of spacetime formulas. Projection identities and momentum constraints must use the same convention throughout.
Spatial volume evolution identity Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
In a 3+1 decomposition of spacetime with , contract the metric evolution with and use the Jacobi determinant derivative formula. Here , , is the lapse function, and is the shift vector. The identity separates spatial transport and coordinate compression from the geometric volume change caused by extrinsic curvature.