Cartan curvature of a planar warped spacetime Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
For the orthonormal coframe of a planar warped spacetime, Cartan's first structure equation gives and , where and . All other connection 1-forms vanish. Cartan's second structure equation gives and for . Lowering the first index makes both the connection 1-forms and the curvature 2-forms antisymmetric. Contraction yields , , and .
For a positive conformal factor in dimension , set . These are the coordinate components of the Schouten tensor. In the convention , the Riemann curvature tensor is . The orthonormal coframe has connection 1-forms ; substituting into Cartan's second structure equation proves this expression directly. Its contractions give and .
Curvature of a diagonal plane wave in Rosen coordinates Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
For , , with nowhere-zero smooth , take , , , , . In signature , Cartan's first structure equation and metric compatibility give the lower-index connection 1-forms and . Cartan's second structure equation gives and . All other independent curvature 2-forms vanish: in particular the component cancels between the time and longitudinal terms. Contracting yields . Thus the Vacuum Einstein equations are , while nonzero gives opposite transverse tidal curvatures and plus polarization relative to these axes.
For a nondegenerate orthonormal coframe in spacetime and independent antisymmetric Lorentz connection 1-form, the action has independent coframe and connection variations. Since , integration by parts yields a connection equation . The three variations of the cubic coframe term give the coframe equation . In three dimensions these are exactly the equations displayed above. The solution has constant sectional curvature . Omitting the factor of three changes the cosmological normalization.
On a contractible Cartesian patch of a flat background, zero linearized Riemann curvature operator says that the connection 1-forms are closed. The Poincaré lemma writes them as derivatives of a matrix-valued potential. Symmetry of the two lower affine connection indices then supplies a second potential, giving . Linearized metric compatibility implies that is constant. Its symmetric constant part is absorbed by an affine vector field. Thus the metric perturbation is locally a coordinate change. Global topology and imposed boundary conditions can obstruct the corresponding global gauge choice.
Lorentzian connection-form antisymmetry Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
In an orthonormal coframe in spacetime, antisymmetry applies after lowering the first index with the Lorentzian frame metric. Thus mixed time–space connection 1-forms are equal under index interchange, while mixed spatial forms are opposite. The same rule holds for curvature 2-forms. Confusing lowered antisymmetry with ordinary mixed-index antisymmetry changes the curvature signs.
An orthonormal coframe is a collection of independent differential forms satisfying , with . Locally one can diagonalize the metric tensor and rescale the resulting covectors, or use Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization for a symmetric bilinear form, choosing a timelike direction first. The coframe is not unique: a local Lorentz transformation preserves the metric. For the Levi-Civita connection, solve Cartan's first structure equation and metric compatibility together:
These determine the connection 1-forms. The antisymmetry applies to the lowered pair of indices; a mixed time-space pair instead has . Next Cartan's second structure equation gives the curvature 2-forms, and reading off their coefficients determines the Riemann curvature tensor:
This also states the curvature-sign convention. Contracting gives the Ricci tensor, and its coordinate components are .
On a static patch with , choose
Write , , , and . The exterior derivative gives
The nonzero independent connection 1-forms are consequently
with , spatial mixed pairs antisymmetric, and the remaining forms zero. For example,
Similarly , and the angular derivatives in cancel against . The resulting Cartan curvature forms for a static spherical metric are
For the last entry, and . The remaining curvature 2-forms follow from .
Put , , and . Reading the Riemann curvature tensor from the forms and contracting gives the diagonal orthonormal Ricci tensor
For example , while . All off-diagonal entries vanish because the curvature 2-forms only involve their own index planes. In the coordinate basis the nonzero components are
The angular Einstein field equations with the negative cosmological constant give . Integrating introduces one real constant, conventionally written :
Substitution gives , so the time and radial Einstein field equations hold as well. The solution is the Schwarzschild--anti-de Sitter black hole family, including its zero and negative mass limits.
For , increases strictly from at to at infinity. Its unique positive simple zero satisfies . This zero is a coordinate singularity, not a curvature singularity: with the ingoing coordinate , the radial metric is and is regular there. Inside the future black-hole region, is future timelike, so every future-directed causal trajectory decreases and cannot return to the asymptotic anti-de Sitter boundary. Conversely, every exterior radius admits an outward radial null geodesic reaching that boundary, since converges. Thus gives an event horizon at the unique positive zero of . Here the event horizon is defined relative to the asymptotic timelike boundary of Anti-de Sitter spacetime. For , and the spacetime is pure Anti-de Sitter spacetime, with no black-hole event horizon. For , , so there is also no event horizon; the mass term produces a naked singularity at . The field equation itself does not impose a positive mass integration constant.
Choose a local orthonormal coframe with . The Levi-Civita connection is represented by the connection 1-forms satisfying
The gamma matrices satisfy the Clifford algebra relations . The matrices represent the infinitesimal orthogonal transformations on spinor fields; lifting the frame connection to this representation defines the spinor covariant derivative
Both frame indices are summed, so each antisymmetric pair occurs twice. Under a local Lorentz transformation with spin lift , the spin connection transforms as and ; consequently . This establishes covariance. Global construction requires a compatible spin structure (and the appropriate orientation and time orientation); the formulas themselves work on a local orthonormal frame patch.
The supplied gamma matrices have squares and anticommute pairwise, so . Work on a connected regular patch with and . Since the metric depends only on , we may use its positive smooth square root . Take
Their exterior derivatives are , , and . Solving Cartan's first structure equation and imposing Lorentzian connection-form antisymmetry gives
In particular and . The parallel spinor equations are therefore
Differentiate the angular equation with respect to and use . This gives . Since , this matrix is invertible. A parallel spinor that vanishes at any point vanishes everywhere on the connected domain, by uniqueness of parallel transport. Thus a nonzero parallel spinor implies throughout the patch. There are no nonzero parallel spinors unless is constant. The zero spinor field is always a solution, so “nonzero” is essential in interpreting the printed assertion. A smooth original of either sign is constant on such a patch exactly when is constant; is excluded because the given metric is not defined there.
Write the constant as , and introduce , , and . The metric becomes
A circle at small has circumference if has period , whereas its proper radius is . Smoothness requires circumference divided by radius to tend to , not a multiple of . Conversely, when , the coordinates , exhibit a smooth flat spatial disk. Hence
For a prescribed period , this requires ; otherwise there is a conical singularity at the apex.
For constant , the time and radial equations make the components independent of . The angular equation has all solutions
where is an arbitrary constant two-component spinor field and . There are two independent real solutions for real spinor fields, or two independent complex solutions if complex spinors are used. At the smooth angular period, these polar-frame components change sign. This is exactly the polar-frame parallel spinor transformation under the spin lift of a full rotation: the rotating polar orthonormal frame does not extend through the origin. The spin structure extending over the disk uses this antiperiodic polar trivialization; in a Cartesian orthonormal frame the same parallel spinors have constant components and extend smoothly. Requiring periodic components in the rotating frame would select the other spin structure on the punctured disk, which does not extend over its center.
Work on a regular patch with a smooth nonzero conformal factor. Its sign is constant there, so replace it by if necessary and assume . Put , and let all partial derivatives, index raising on , and the operators in the following formulas use the flat Cartesian metric . The orthonormal coframe has
The proposed connection 1-forms reduce to
Lowering the first frame index with makes these antisymmetric, which establishes metric compatibility. Moreover,
Thus Cartan's first structure equation has zero torsion. Uniqueness of the metric-compatible torsion-free connection identifies these forms as the Levi-Civita connection; this also explains why merely guessing a skew connection would not have sufficed.
To calculate the Riemann curvature tensor, use Cartan's second structure equation. Direct differentiation and multiplication give
Introduce the Schouten tensor in Cartesian coordinate components,
The preceding calculation groups into the curvature 2-forms
Keep the convention , with , as in the first solution. Converting frame indices to coordinate indices gives the curvature of a conformally Euclidean metric:
These are coordinate components. Components in the dual orthonormal frame are , hence the same expression with the overall factor . This distinction is important when contracting the Riemann curvature tensor.
Contract with . In four dimensions the Ricci tensor becomes , and therefore
Taking the remaining metric trace yields the Ricci scalar
The cancellation of the gradient-squared terms in the last expression is special to dimension four.
For the Tolman wormhole, compute on :
Substitution into the Ricci tensor and Ricci scalar gives
For example, the coordinate radial eigenvalue is , while each of the three tangential eigenvalues is . Their sum vanishes, but none vanishes when . The Vacuum Einstein equations with zero cosmological constant require and hence . The metric is scalar-flat but not a vacuum solution for any nonzero ; only gives flat vacuum space. A nonzero cosmological constant does not rescue it: its trace would force , so would first force .
The smooth wormhole interpretation uses ; is another asymptotically flat end, not an included origin, as inversion shows. For , the conformal factor vanishes at , where the metric is degenerate. The local non-vacuum calculation remains valid on each regular region away from that sphere, but such a metric is not a smooth wormhole across it.
The geodesic flow of a closed negatively curved surface is a topologically transitive Anosov flow. In particular, its Jacobi-field hyperbolicity and the usual negative-curvature transitivity theorem allow the smooth Livsic theorem to be applied. Set . The given closed-geodesic integrals are exactly its periodic-orbit obstructions on . Therefore
We make the differential operators and signs explicit. On the unit tangent bundle, let generate positive fibre rotation, be the geodesic vector field and . For the canonical coframe of a surface unit tangent bundle, write
and let be the Levi-Civita connection form with . This uses for a one-form, keeping for the given tensor. The dual frame is , and the structure equations are
These follow by writing the two horizontal forms as a rotated local orthonormal coframe and , with its connection 1-form. Equivalently, differentiating the sine and cosine components of twice in the fibre angle gives
The curvature equation also gives . The Liouville volume of a surface geodesic flow will be taken positive in the base/positive-fibre orientation, namely .
In an oriented orthonormal frame at , put . The symmetric tensor evaluation is
Since , this proves .
The Lie bracket of vector fields identities give an operator identity that supplies the required equation. First,
Using and , differentiate this expression once more to obtain
For and , the first term vanishes by the explicit fibre calculation. Hence
Treat the orthonormal coframe in spacetime and the Lorentz connection 1-form as independent variables, with nondegenerate coframe and . Fix the curvature convention
The second expression is Cartan's first structure equation; the first is Cartan's second structure equation. Use compactly supported variations, or boundary data that make the variation's surface term vanish.
For a connection variation, , where is the covariant exterior derivative. Since , its graded product rule gives
For a coframe variation, relabeling the dummy indices makes the three variations of the cubic term identical. Hence
The independent variations therefore give and . In three dimensions the alternating symbol identifies an antisymmetric index pair with a single index, so these equations are equivalent to
These are the equations of first-order three-dimensional gravity. The first selects the Levi-Civita connection; the second fixes constant sectional curvature . The factor of three follows from varying the coefficient exactly as printed.
On a static coordinate patch where , choose the Lorentz frame metric and coframe
Put and . Exterior differentiation gives , , and . Solving the equation of vanishing torsion forms gives
Here antisymmetry is in the two raised or two lowered frame indices; mixed time-space components have equal, rather than opposite, signs. This is the Lorentzian connection-form antisymmetry needed to retain the curvature signs.
Using Cartan's second structure equation, the nonzero curvature 2-forms are
For example, , while the form is the product . Thus the field equations require and . Integrating the latter gives ; the former is then satisfied automatically. The origin condition fixes , yielding
As a sign and normalization check, the Ricci tensor is and the scalar curvature is . The coframe calculation applies initially in the region with ; if , vanishes at , delimiting that static chart without changing the derived function.
Absorb the gauge coupling into a matrix-valued connection 1-form, and use
for an adjoint-valued -form . The matrix trace supplies the usual invariant nondegenerate pairing of the Lie algebra, and the spacetime metric defining the Hodge star is fixed during the gauge-field variation. Since and the two-form Hodge pairing is symmetric,
For variations fixed at the boundary, the Yang-Mills equations are therefore
They accompany, rather than replace, the gauge-theory Bianchi identity , which follows directly by substituting and using .
Fix the Yang-Mills gauge transformation convention
Taking gives
The curvature variation also follows from . If the group parameter is defined with the opposite sign, both displayed infinitesimal variations change sign together.
The Hodge star acts only on spacetime indices, so . Consequently
This proves exact off-shell gauge invariance, with no surviving boundary term, even for a gauge parameter nonzero at the boundary. It does not require the Yang-Mills equations.
One can check the surface terms explicitly in the integrated variation. The Lie-algebra-valued four-form vanishes: writing , the coefficients are symmetric in , and multiply the antisymmetric commutator . Thus , and the gauge substitution in the variation gives
The last equality is Stokes theorem on the closed boundary; equivalently the cancellation is already pointwise in the preceding derivation. Keeping only the first surface term from an arbitrary variation would incorrectly produce a gauge boundary term.
For the additional Yang-Mills theta term, denote its coefficient-free integral by . Its gauge variation is again pointwise zero:
Under an arbitrary connection variation, its boundary variation of the Yang-Mills theta term is
The bulk term vanishes by the gauge-theory Bianchi identity. Therefore adding a constant multiple of does not change the bulk Yang-Mills equations. With fixed boundary potential, it also leaves the usual variational problem unchanged. If boundary variations are allowed, it changes the boundary term: has surface variation , so compatible boundary conditions or a boundary action must account for that change.
Locally , the unnormalized Chern-Simons 3-form identity. That three-form need not be globally defined on a nontrivial bundle, so absence of a bulk variation does not force itself to vanish. Its exact gauge invariance is the curvature-conjugation calculation above, independently of the choice of local gauge potential.
Use coordinate indices and Lorentz-frame indices , and take . Locally choose four independent one-forms satisfying
One construction begins with a smooth timelike vector field in a sufficiently small neighborhood, normalizes it, and applies the Gram-Schmidt process to its spacelike orthogonal complement. The dual orthonormal coframe in spacetime gives the vierbein; equivalently its matrix factorizes the metric as . The inverse matrix gives the frame with . This is a local construction: a global frame is not guaranteed by a metric, and a globally defined spinor field requires a compatible spin structure.
The metric does not determine a unique vierbein. A local Lorentz transformation changes the coframe components by
The coordinate index is unchanged in this frame transformation. Restrict to the proper orthochronous Lorentz group for its connected spin lift; orientation-reversing transformations require further structure and are not part of this local spin-group discussion.
Let constant gamma matrices obey the Clifford algebra , and write . A spinor field transforms by the spin lift of the Lorentz transformation, not by its vector matrix:
For , with , the Clifford algebra identity
shows explicitly that
Indeed the commutator of with this infinitesimal spin matrix is . A finite transformation connected to the identity is obtained by exponentiating these generators along a path. Its lift has two possible signs, so spinors are not ordinary Lorentz vectors: a spatial rotation acts by , and by . Consistent transition lifts define the spin structure; the metric alone does not select it.
For the metric connection, take the Levi-Civita connection and determine the spin connection from the tetrad postulate
It is equivalently determined by and . Explicitly, in terms of the inverse frame,
Thus both the coordinate connection and the Lorentz connection 1-form are determined by the metric and chosen frame; no independent torsion has been supplied.
An ordinary derivative fails covariance because . Seek . Covariance requires
The coframe's connection obeys . Applying the spin representation of the same Lorentz algebra, whose infinitesimal generator was just determined, supplies
This proves the transformation law rather than choosing the coefficient arbitrarily. It is the spinor covariant derivative induced by the spin connection. With curved matrices , the same coefficient and tetrad postulate give
so differentiation is compatible with Clifford multiplication and .
Finally, expand the commutator of these derivatives:
The spin representation preserves the Lorentz algebra bracket. Consequently , where . In components the spinor curvature identity is
For the full second derivative, also includes , because its first derivative has a covector index. This term cancels on antisymmetrization for the torsion-free connection. With unit-weight brackets, , the requested expression is therefore
This convention distinguishes the antisymmetrized second derivative from the full commutator by its factor of two. In a noncoordinate orthonormal frame, an operator commutator must additionally subtract the derivative along the frame-vector commutator; using the full tensorial second derivative incorporates that correction.
The displayed are one-forms, so they form an orthonormal coframe, dual to the orthonormal frame , , , . Use and abbreviate
For , , while . The Levi-Civita connection is fixed by Cartan's first structure equation together with Lorentzian connection-form antisymmetry, , where . Its nonzero connection 1-forms are
In particular, the time-index pair has the same sign with one index raised; incorrectly imposing would lose the Lorentzian sign. All diagonal and all other entries vanish.
Apply Cartan's second structure equation. For ,
For distinct in , putting and gives . Thus a complete independent set of curvature 2-forms is
All diagonal entries vanish. The remaining entries follow from : for , and . These relations and the displayed six entries specify all sixteen curvature 2-forms. This computation is Cartan curvature of a planar warped spacetime.
Extract the Riemann curvature tensor from using the curvature 2-forms just computed. Contraction gives the diagonal Ricci tensor in the orthonormal coframe:
For example, the component receives from each of the and directions and from direction . The signs in the spatial components reflect the same Lorentzian index lowering used for the connection 1-forms.
For a null vector in this frame, . Therefore
The Einstein field equations imply , since the metric term vanishes for a null vector; an included cosmological-constant term would also vanish. Choose and apply the null energy condition. It follows that
Conversely, this inequality makes the same contraction nonnegative for every null vector, so it is exactly the null energy condition for a planar warped spacetime when its matter stress-energy tensor is defined by the Einstein field equations. Null vectors tangent to the planar slices saturate the condition. As checks, constant gives flat spacetime and gives constant negative sectional curvature with , also saturating it.
Treat the printed as an orthonormal coframe, with frame metric . Work on a patch and , so the given real coframe exists. Define and . The exterior derivatives are
The connection 1-forms satisfying Cartan's first structure equation and metric compatibility are
All other forms vanish. With a Lorentzian frame, it is the lowered forms that are antisymmetric; the two mixed time–space forms are equal. These displayed forms solve the torsion-free structure equation, and uniqueness of the Levi-Civita connection identifies them as the required connection.
Apply Cartan's second structure equation. For example,
The remaining derivatives give and , with analogous forms for index 2. Put and . From ,
Therefore all six independent curvature 2-forms are
The other six are fixed by for , with no sum: equal for time–space pairs and opposite for spatial pairs. All diagonal forms are zero. The Lorentzian connection-form antisymmetry is essential to these signs.
Put , , , , with primes denoting . The exterior derivatives are , , . For a Levi-Civita connection, the connection 1-forms obey both Cartan's first structure equation and metric compatibility. With lower indices , the result is
All other lower-index forms vanish or follow from . Raising the first time index changes its sign: for example , whereas and .
For direct verification, , and the same holds for index two. For indices zero and three each term wedges or with itself, so it is zero. These forms are metric-compatible, and uniqueness follows from the existence and uniqueness of the Levi-Civita connection. The printed uniqueness statement implicitly includes metric compatibility: the torsion equation alone permits adding nonzero forms with , since their wedge with vanishes.
At each point, apply the indefinite-signature version of the Gram-Schmidt process to any local coframe, choosing one timelike and three spacelike one-forms. This produces an orthonormal coframe in spacetime satisfying
It is unique only up to a local Lorentz transformation. The torsion-free connection 1-forms are then determined by Cartan's first structure equation and metric compatibility,
Cartan's second structure equation gives the curvature 2-forms
and contraction gives the Ricci tensor .
For the displayed metric, take
Then and . The nonzero connection forms are therefore
with . A second application of the structure equations gives
Equivalently,
so this is a constant sectional curvature spacetime with . In four dimensions,
The Vacuum Einstein equations with a cosmological constant are , and hence
The metric is the contracting flat slicing of de Sitter spacetime with curvature radius one.