Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 64 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The spatial coordinates are cyclic because the flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric depends only on time. Differentiating the printed affine Lagrangian gives the canonical momentumThe Euler-Lagrange equations give , soThis is the conserved quantity associated with spatial translation invariance. The overall minus sign in the stated action makes this canonical covector opposite to the usual future-directed mechanical momentum; it does not alter the geodesic trajectories or the conservation result. The canonical momentum sign in the affine particle action will be kept explicit below.