Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 51 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the Minkowski metric convention . On the Adjoint representation, the adjoint covariant derivative is . Set and . ThenThe trace obeys , and covariant integration by parts has the ordinary boundary term because the trace of a commutator is zero. Thus compactly supported variations giveThe trace pairing on is nondegenerate, so the Euler-Lagrange field equations areIn particular the sign of the scalar mass term follows from the plus sign in the supplied trace Lagrangian density; it should not be guessed from a different metric convention. This is the adjoint Yang-Mills-Higgs trace variation.
For the static Bogomolny-Prasad-Sommerfield monopole, take the usual purely magnetic extension and temporal gauge . At , the equations reduce towith the equation identically zero. We now verify both spatial equations from without assuming them. The gauge-theory Bianchi identity gives , hence immediately . Also , soHere . This proves that the Bogomolny equations imply all static zero-mass Yang-Mills equations and the scalar equation. The specification of matters: the spatial Bogomolny equations by themselves do not constrain an arbitrary extra electric potential, so the implication is for their standard purely magnetic static extension.