Bispectrum from a time-derivative cubic scalar interaction Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-05
For a massless scalar in de Sitter spacetime with interaction , the tree-level late-time primordial bispectrum isIt scales as .
For a minimally coupled massless scalar field in flat de Sitter spacetime, and the Canonically rescaled de Sitter scalar mode is . The equation and the positive-frequency condition select the displayed mode. Direct differentiation verifies its Wronskian normalization, which ensures the equal-time canonical commutation relations with box-normalized creation and annihilation operators. A conformally coupled massless scalar has a different mode equation.
de Sitter approximation Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-14
Approximately constant positive Hubble parameter gives a nearly de Sitter spacetime expansion in flat slicing. Its scale factor can be approximated by with negative conformal time increasing toward zero. Slow variation of the expansion rate limits the accuracy of this approximation.
de Sitter isometry Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-07
Four-dimensional de Sitter spacetime has ten independent isometries. In the expanding flat slicing they act on the spatial boundary as three translations, three rotations, one dilation, and three special conformal transformations.
The expanding flat slicing has metricIt covers one half of global de Sitter spacetime and has a past coordinate boundary at .
In global coordinates the de Sitter spacetime metric is . A global frame of a vector bundle orthonormal for the round metric on gives the displayed global pseudo-orthonormal frame. For example, identify with the unit quaternions and use . Choosing the spatial orientation and the future direction consistently gives a section of a fiber bundle for the oriented, time-oriented frame bundle. The principal bundle trivialization by a global section then proves that bundle is trivial.
Matter-vacuum age endpoint limits 2026-10-14
The age of a flat matter-Lambda universe is . The large-argument expansion gives the first limit. Its small-argument expansion gives the second. The divergence at the pure-vacuum endpoint reflects the absence of a finite Big Bang time in the expanding flat de Sitter spacetime patch.
Open slicing of de Sitter spacetime 2026-10-14
With no matter or radiation, and , the Friedmann equation in units is . Separating variables on the expanding branch and choosing its coordinate origin at gives the displayed scale factor. Normalization imposes and . The zero of the scale factor is the boundary of this open coordinate patch, rather than a curvature singularity of de Sitter spacetime.
Oriented frame bundle of de Sitter spacetime 2026-10-14
Represent unit-radius de Sitter spacetime by the spacelike unit hyperboloid in five-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. Appending its position vector as the last column of an oriented pseudo-orthonormal frame produces a matrix in . Projection to that last column identifies with the oriented orthonormal frame bundle, a principal bundle with group . The full bundle allowing both orientations is with group . Requiring a time orientation as well selects the corresponding identity components.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 67 3 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write and . With matter and radiation absent, the Friedmann equation isChoose the expanding branch and put its coordinate origin at . Separating variables,so the open slicing of de Sitter spacetime isFor the equivalent normalized form isIt has and , as required. In terms of a prescribed present Hubble parameter,At early times resembles the Milne universe, while at late times it grows exponentially. The empty model still has vacuum energy density; the vanishing of at the open-patch origin is not a curvature singularity of de Sitter spacetime.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 72 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A horizon separates regions according to a specified causal, dynamical or geometrical criterion. The criterion must be stated: an event horizon, an apparent horizon, a Killing horizon and a Cauchy horizon answer different questions. Some horizons describe a black hole, others an observer's acceleration or the universe's expansion. A vanishing coordinate metric component alone does not establish any of these definitions.
In an asymptotically flat spacetime, choose the relevant future null infinity , the endpoint of escaping outgoing light rays. The black-hole region and its future event horizon areHere is the causal past. Events in cannot send a causal signal to the chosen infinity. This is a global definition: identifying the horizon requires the full future development, so a local measurement need not reveal whether an event lies on it. Smooth portions of an event horizon are null hypersurfaces generated by null geodesics. Generators may join at past caustics or crease sets, so the horizon need not be smooth everywhere. A past event horizon is defined by the time-reversed escape criterion; in the maximally extended Schwarzschild solution it bounds a white-hole region.
An observer-based definition replaces infinity by a future-inextendible worldline . Its future observer event horizon is the boundary of events that can signal to , conventionally . A past observer horizon similarly bounds events reachable from its past worldline. Such horizons depend on the observer and need not imply a black hole.
A Killing horizon is a null hypersurface to which a nonzero Killing vector field is normal. On it, is tangent to its null generators and satisfies . The surface gravity measures the failure of this Killing parameter to be an affine parameter; rescaling rescales . A degenerate Killing horizon has . Stationary black-hole horizons often are Killing horizons, whereas a general evolving event horizon need not have any Killing symmetry. The condition alone is insufficient: the null vector must also be normal to a null hypersurface.
The Schwarzschild spacetime illustrates several of these notions. In units , let . Its metric is , and is the future event horizon of the black-hole region in the appropriate extension. The apparent coordinate singularity disappears in Ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates, , :At this metric is regular and the normal is null. Future outgoing radial rays satisfy ; inside the horizon their areal radius decreases even on the outgoing family. The stationary Killing vector field generates the horizon with when normalized at infinity. The Kretschmann scalar is , finite at the horizon and divergent at . Thus the event horizon is not the curvature singularity. The photon sphere at , which supports circular null orbits, is also not the horizon.
Quasi-local horizon notions use null expansions. For a closed spacelike two-surface, choose future outgoing and ingoing null normals , with in signature . Each expansion is the logarithmic rate of its positive area element along the corresponding null normal. A future trapped surface has and : both future light fronts initially shrink. A marginally outer trapped surface has ; for the future black-hole type also require . On a chosen spacelike slice, the outer boundary of the future trapped region is an apparent horizon, ordinarily an outermost marginally outer trapped surface when regularity permits this characterization. It depends on the slice, and a slicing need not display an apparent horizon even when the global spacetime contains an event horizon.
For the Schwarzschild metric in ingoing coordinates choose and . The spherical null expansion in ingoing coordinates givesThe round spheres inside are future trapped, while is marginal. On standard horizon-penetrating slices its sections give the apparent horizon, coinciding with the stationary event and Killing horizon. This coincidence in a symmetric stationary example does not identify the notions in a general spacetime.
A trapping horizon is a hypersurface foliated by marginal surfaces. Its future outer type obeys , and . Unlike an event horizon, this can be diagnosed from local expansion data and their variation. The null energy condition explains its causal character. At a marginal surface, the Null Raychaudhuri equation, with the present curvature sign and vanishing null twist, givesin units . A possible nonaffinity term vanishes here because it is proportional to the zero expansion. Write a horizon evolution vector as . Preserving gives . Hence : the future outer horizon is spacelike or null. Its area expansion is . These conclusions use the outer condition and the energy condition, not merely marginality.
For the global event horizon, the future-complete horizon focusing proof of the area theorem uses the same Null Raychaudhuri equation. Under the null energy condition, a negative generator expansion forces a future caustic in finite affine parameter. Future completeness and the usual regularity or predictability assumptions exclude such a caustic on the future event-horizon boundary. Its generator expansion is therefore nonnegative and its classical area cannot decrease. These assumptions matter: this is not an unconditional result for every null surface or every matter model.
Rotating and charged solutions provide further distinctions. A nonextremal Kerr black hole has , with . Its outer Killing horizon is generated by , where , rather than by time translation alone. The ergosphere begins at the stationary-limit surface , whose radius is . Away from the axis this lies outside the event horizon: it forbids static observers but does not forbid escape to infinity. In Reissner-Nordstrom spacetime, the nonextremal radii are . The outer surface is an event horizon, whereas the inner surface is a Cauchy horizon in the exact analytic extension.
A Cauchy horizon concerns predictability from initial data. The future domain of dependence of a partial Cauchy surface consists of events for which every past-inextendible causal curve intersects . Its future Cauchy horizon isBeyond it, causal influences can arrive without meeting the specified initial surface; data on that surface no longer determine the solution there. This is distinct from the inability to send signals to infinity. The inner horizon of the exact charged black hole supplies an example, and the definition necessarily specifies which initial surface is being used.
Flat spacetime itself has acceleration horizons. In the right Rindler wedge, set and , with . The Minkowski spacetime metric becomes . The null boundaries and are Rindler horizons of the boost Killing flow. A uniformly accelerated observer cannot receive signals from one side of its future horizon, even though the curvature vanishes and inertial observers encounter no such boundary. These are observer and Killing horizons, not a black-hole event horizon defined using the full Minkowski null infinity.
In a spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric with noncompact spatial sections, radial light rays have . The particle horizon measures how far signals could have travelled since the initial cosmic time; the cosmological event horizon measures how far signals emitted now could ever travel toward a comoving observer. Their comoving and proper radii areThe respective horizon is present only if its integral is finite. The event-horizon integral uses the actual future endpoint, often , so it is global and observer-dependent. For on , a finite particle horizon exists for , while a finite event horizon exists for . Neither integral is finite for . In the expanding flat patch of de Sitter spacetime, and the proper event-horizon radius is . The static form identifies it as a cosmological Killing horizon; its surface-gravity magnitude is with the central static time normalization.
Finally, the Hubble radius must not automatically be called an event horizon. For a flat expanding cosmology, the two future radial null expansions of a sphere of proper radius are . At the ingoing expansion vanishes, while outside it both expansions are positive: this is the cosmological marginal, past-trapped type rather than a future black-hole trapped surface. A dust universe with has such a Hubble sphere but no future event horizon. Global causal boundaries, slice-dependent trapped-surface boundaries, symmetry horizons and initial-data boundaries must therefore be distinguished, even when several coincide in a special example.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 74 7 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A principal bundle with structural Lie group is locally a product , with changes of trivialization of the form . Define a right action locally by . It is independent of trivialization because . It is smooth and obeys the group-action law. Right multiplication in is free and transitive, so the global action is free and each fiber is a single orbit. Equivalently these properties and equivariant local triviality can be included in the definition of a principal bundle.
For a representation , form the associated vector bundleProjection sends to the base point of . A local section gives coordinates and hence a local product ; on overlaps the principal transition functions act through . Because these maps are linear in , the fibers have well-defined vector-space structures.
For an -dimensional manifold, its frame bundle has points that are linear isomorphisms. Right action is composition for . Coordinate frames provide local trivializations. Its associated bundle for the defining representation is the tangent bundle, by the well-defined map . A metric restricts the frames to linear isometries and reduces the group to ; choosing orientation gives the corresponding special-orthogonal reduction.
In Minkowski spacetime choose a reference oriented pseudo-orthonormal frame at the origin. Every such frame is specified by its base point and a Lorentz transformation . The Poincaré group has multiplicationand its right Lorentz action is . Henceis the oriented orthonormal frame bundle of Minkowski spacetime. The same argument with gives the full unoriented bundle. If time orientation is fixed, use the orthochronous components throughout; the use of in the printed quotient is an orientation reduction.
For four-dimensional de Sitter spacetime, use the spacelike hyperboloid in . An element of maps a fixed unit spacelike vector to , and its other columns give an oriented pseudo-orthonormal tangent frame. The stabilizer of that unit vector is . This identifies the oriented frame bundle of de Sitter spacetime and its projection:The right stabilizer action changes the tangent frame without changing .
For Anti-de Sitter spacetime, take in . A unit timelike normal has orthogonal complement of signature , so its stabilizer is again . Appending this normal to a tangent frame realizes the oriented orthonormal frame bundle of anti-de Sitter spacetime asConnected components or orientation/time-orientation restrictions must be chosen consistently. This quotient is the anti-de Sitter quadric, which has a periodic timelike coordinate. If “anti-de Sitter spacetime” denotes its universal cover, pull the frame bundle back to that cover, rather than identify the covered spacetime with the unmodified quotient.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 55 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use natural units and conformal time . The conformal Hubble parameter is . For the barotropic equation of state , the Friedmann acceleration equation givesThe Friedmann equation gives . Hence the constant-equation-of-state conformal Riccati equation isFor , separation and integration of this Riccati equation yield, after choosing the origin of conformal time,The open positive-energy density branch uses the hyperbolic cotangent, rather than the cotangent. Integrating giveswhere the positive constants are fixed by the energy density normalization. These formulas apply on branches where the bases are positive. For , take the Big Bang at . The cosmic time is thenThe integrals also give the general answer after selecting a suitable reference time when a finite Big Bang endpoint does not exist. The exceptional coasting fluid has , so is constant: and . If , instead and . A flat fluid with is the constant-density de Sitter spacetime case, for which the flat time integral is logarithmic.
During matter domination, and . Absorbing numerical factors into separate positive constants gives the closed matter-dominated Friedmann solution, the flat Einstein-de Sitter universe and the open matter-dominated Friedmann solution:To compare the age of a dust universe without a cosmological constant, specify the normalization. At fixed present Hubble parameter , with and present matter cosmological density parameter , the Friedmann equation givesThe integrand decreases strictly with for . Therefore age ordering of dust universes at fixed Hubble parameter gives, on the expanding branches,The final bound is approached by the empty Milne universe. This compares models with the same ; fixing instead the present scale factor and energy density gives a different comparison.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 55 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Cosmic inflation addresses the horizon problem by extending the causal past of the observed region, the flatness problem by damping the curvature contribution, and the cosmological monopole problem by diluting unwanted relics. A canonical inflaton can drive this expansion when its potential energy density exceeds twice its kinetic energy density.
Use the unreduced Planck mass , consistent with the coefficient in the Friedmann equation, and take , . Seek the exponential-potential power-law inflation solution and . The kinetic energy density is proportional to . The inflaton potential must have the same scaling, soSubstitution into the inflaton equation of motion givesThe Friedmann equation now reduces toConsequently the nontrivial positive-potential solution isA positive requires . Accelerating expansion occurs exactly for , givingThis is an exact solution, not a use of the slow-roll approximation. The first Hubble slow-roll parameter and equation-of-state parameter are constant:If the reduced Planck mass is used instead, the dimensionless exponential slope is and the exponent becomes ; these are the same solution.
For , the comoving Hubble radius decreases as . A region initially in causal contact can grow beyond that radius before the hot radiation-dominated universe begins. In the ideal power law extrapolated all the way to , the particle horizon integral diverges, so the solution has no finite past particle horizon. A finite, physically trustworthy inflationary interval instead requires a sufficiently large number of e-folds to enlarge an initially causal patch.
For a small curvature contribution, the Friedmann equation gives , solving the flatness problem. Conserved nonrelativistic magnetic monopoles have number density proportional to , while the inflaton energy density is proportional to ; their energy-density ratio therefore falls as . This gives the required dilution, provided later reheating does not recreate them. Inflationary shear damping similarly suppresses anisotropic expansion.
The main failure is no automatic graceful exit or reheating. The first Hubble slow-roll parameter never reaches one, and the exponential inflaton potential has no finite minimum about which the field can oscillate. Additional dynamics are needed for a graceful exit from inflation and transfer to a hot radiation-dominated universe. The ideal solution also retains a curvature singularity at ; solving the horizon problem does not itself explain the beginning of the universe. For , the constant inflaton potential instead permits constant-field de Sitter spacetime expansion; the logarithmic field solution is inapplicable.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 57 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A smooth principal bundle with structure Lie group can be specified by a locally trivial map whose fiber coordinate changes have the form , with the usual transition functions of a principal bundle cocycle on triple overlaps. In each chart define . On overlaps, , so these local right actions agree. They therefore give a global smooth right group action, free and transitive on every fiber. Equivalently, this action together with equivariant local triviality is the definition of a principal bundle.
Use five-dimensional Minkowski spacetime with ambient metric and realize unit-radius de Sitter spacetime as . Its tangent space is , of Lorentzian signature . An oriented pseudo-orthonormal frame of , together with the last column , is precisely a matrixConversely the last column of such a matrix lies on the hyperboloid, and its other columns give that frame. ThusRight multiplication by fixes and changes the tangent frame by . It is free and transitive on frames over , proving the principal bundle description. Smooth local choices of frames provide its local trivializations. The dimensions are .
This is the oriented frame bundle of de Sitter spacetime. Allowing orientation reversal gives and structure group ; imposing a time orientation as well selects and . For radius , take the last column .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 58 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
One definition of a principal bundle uses local trivializations whose overlap maps arewith smooth -valued transition functions of a principal bundle satisfying the cocycle condition. This definition displays the global right group action rather than assuming it: if , define . On an overlap,so the local definitions agree. The resulting action is smooth, free and transitive on each fibre, and respects the projection.
If is a global section of a fiber bundle, set . The free and transitive fibre action makes bijective. In a local trivialization, write ; then and its inverse is . Both are smooth and respect the action and projection. Conversely a principal bundle isomorphism sends to a global section. Hence
For a pseudo-Riemannian manifold of metric signature , its orthonormal frame bundle has fibre at consisting of linear isometries . Its structure group is and its right action is . Two such frames differ by a unique element of , proving the required free and transitive fibre action. A global section is exactly a global pseudo-orthonormal frame. Orientation and time orientation, when specified, restrict the structure group and the allowed frames.
Realize unit-radius four-dimensional de Sitter spacetime asIts tangent space is , with Lorentzian metric signature . If is a pseudo-orthonormal frame at , append as the final column. The resulting five-by-five matrix preserves , and conversely every such matrix supplies a point and a frame at that point. Thus the full frame bundle is , with projection and fibre group .
The printed statement requires the orientation restriction. Choose the tangent orientation by requiring the appended matrix to have determinant one. Thenis precisely the oriented frame bundle of de Sitter spacetime, with right structure group embedded as . If future time orientation is also required, use and . Calling the full bundle without specifying orientation would exclude valid frames of the opposite orientation.
Finally write the global coordinatesDirect differentiation gives the de Sitter spacetime metric . The assumed global frame of a vector bundle on can be orthonormalized smoothly by Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization for the round positive metric. More explicitly, view as the unit quaternions: , , form a smooth global orthonormal tangent basis. SetThese have inner products , and . They are smooth everywhere because never vanishes. Choose the spatial orientation consistently, reversing one if necessary, and choose future-directed. This global frame on four-dimensional de Sitter spacetime yields a global section of the full frame bundle and also of either restricted bundle. Yes: the de Sitter frame bundle admits a global section and is trivial.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 63 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A smooth fiber bundle with typical fiber is locally a product: every base point has a neighborhood and a local trivialization commuting with projection to . Its overlap maps act smoothly on . A principal bundle with structure Lie group has a free right -action, each fiber is one orbit, and the local trivializations are equivariant for right multiplication on . A smooth section of a fiber bundle is a map with .
For a principal bundle, a global section of a fiber bundle gives the mapThe free transitive action on each fiber makes bijective. In a local trivialization, write ; then and its inverse is . Both are smooth and is equivariant. Conversely, a product principal bundle has the section . This proves a principal bundle is trivial exactly when it has a global section. The argument depends on the free transitive action: an arbitrary bundle section need not trivialize its bundle.
For an -dimensional smooth manifold, the frame bundle has fiber over consisting of ordered bases of , equivalently linear isomorphisms . Right composition by makes it a principal bundle. If a metric has signature , its pseudo-orthonormal frame bundle consists of the isometries , with structure group . In the positive-definite case this is the usual orthonormal frame bundle. Choosing space and time orientations reduces the Lorentzian structure group to its corresponding connected subgroup.
For Minkowski spacetime, use a fixed origin and a standard Lorentzian frame. Every pair consisting of a point and a pseudo-orthonormal frame is the image of this reference pair under a unique affine isometry. Thus, for the full groups,Here the first expression denotes the total space of the orthonormal frame bundle, not merely the Lorentz group. Projection sends an affine isometry to the image of the reference point, and the right action of the stabilizer changes its frame.
Realize de Sitter spacetime of radius as in . The ambient orthogonal group is transitive on this hyperboloid. Its point stabilizer acts on the Lorentzian tangent space as ; choosing a tangent orthonormal frame removes that stabilizer completely. ConsequentlyFor oriented, time-oriented frames, replace these groups by and , and similarly use the proper orthochronous Poincaré group for Minkowski spacetime. The isometries are uniquely determined by their action on a point and its frame, which explains these bundle identifications.
Finally, choose a basis of the Lie algebra . The left-invariant vector fields form a basis at every , because is a diffeomorphism. They give a global section of a fiber bundle of the frame bundle, so that bundle is trivial. More explicitly,Thus every Lie group is a parallelizable manifold; connectedness is not needed for this construction.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 ii Paper 3 10D a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For a homogeneous isotropic metric, radial light propagation covers comoving distance . The physical particle horizon is , when this is finite. A future event horizon exists when is finite. The Hubble radius is the instantaneous scale , with ; it is not generally the same as either causal horizon.
For an Einstein-de Sitter universe, , so , while from a beginning at zero. The future integral diverges, so there is no event horizon. For an eternal-past de Sitter spacetime, is constant and the particle-horizon integral from diverges. Its event horizon and Hubble radius both equal . Thus a Hubble radius is not automatically a particle horizon, even in these simple isotropic models.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 62 1 b i Solution 2026-10-14
As , use to obtainAt fixed Hubble constant, the age of a flat matter-Lambda universe diverges logarithmically. The limiting purely vacuum-dominated de Sitter spacetime has an exponential scale factor and no Big Bang at a finite value of cosmic time in this flat slicing.
