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Relative to a nondegenerate metric tensor, any affine connection is uniquely the Levi-Civita connection plus a contorsion tensor contribution and a disformation tensor contribution. In derivative-last notation, with $T_{ab}{}^c={\Gamma }^c{}_{ab}-{\Gamma }^c{}_{ba}$ and $N_{abc}={\nabla }_c{g}_{ab}$, the lowered difference is $A_{abc}=\frac{1}{2}(T_{abc}+T_{bca}-T_{cab}+N_{abc}-N_{bca}-N_{cab})$. This follows by solving $T_{abc}=A_{abc}-A_{bac}$ and $N_{abc}=-A_{acb}-A_{bca}$. The difference of affine connections is a tensor.

Use the connection convention ${\nabla }_{\alpha }{Y}^{\rho }={\partial }_{\alpha }{Y}^{\rho }+{\Gamma }^{\rho }{}_{\mu \alpha }{Y}^{\mu }$, with the derivative index last. This is consistent with the printed curvature formula and the final formula in part (iv). The paper's $T_{\mu \nu }{}^{\rho }={\Gamma }^{\rho }{}_{\mu \nu }-{\Gamma }^{\rho }{}_{\nu \mu }$ is then the negative of the geometric torsion tensor defined by $\mathcal{T}(X,Y)={\nabla }_{X}Y-{\nabla }_{Y}X-[X,Y]$. Keep the paper's component convention throughout this question.

Set $A_{\mu \nu \rho }=g_{\rho \lambda }({\Gamma }^{\lambda }{}_{\mu \nu }-S^{\lambda }{}_{\mu \nu })$. The difference of affine connections is a tensor. Since the Levi-Civita connection $S$ is symmetric and metric compatible, expanding the nonmetricity tensor givesHere $T_{\mu \nu \rho }=g_{\rho \lambda }{T}_{\mu \nu }{}^{\lambda }$ is antisymmetric in its first two slots, while $N_{\mu \nu \rho }$ is symmetric in its first two slots. Cyclically permuting these identities and eliminating the other components givesRaise the last slot to obtain the connection decompositionwhereThe PDF is missing the factor $1/2$ in its definition of $K$. With the printed $K$, the decomposition would instead contain $-K/2$. In these formulas $T^{\rho }{}_{\mu \nu }$ raises the first slot of the fully lowered tensor; it must not be confused with $T_{\mu \nu }{}^{\rho }$, which raises the last slot.

A smooth vector field along a map $\gamma :[a,b]\to M$ is a smooth section of the pullback tangent bundle ${\gamma }^{\ast }TM$: it assigns $V(t)\in T_{\gamma (t)}M$, with smooth coefficients in each local frame. It need not be the restriction of one ambient vector field, since a curve may return to the same point with different values of $V$.

An affine connection, also called a Koszul connection, induces a pullback connection on this bundle. In coordinates, write $V=V^i(t){\partial }_i$ and ${\nabla }_{{\partial }_j}{\partial }_k={\Gamma }^i{}_{jk}{\partial }_i$. Its covariant derivative along a curve isThe connection transformation law, or the Leibniz rule applied to a change of frame, makes this expression independent of the frame. In particular it is defined even when $\dot{\gamma }=0$; it differentiates the section's coefficients as well as the frame.

The field is parallel precisely when $D_{t}V=0$. In a frame along a coordinate segment this is the linear ordinary differential equationThe Picard-Lindelof theorem gives a unique solution with prescribed initial value. Smooth coefficients on compact subintervals are bounded, and the usual norm estimate for a linear ordinary differential equation prevents finite-time blowup there. A finite sequence of coordinate segments covers the image of the compact interval $[a,b]$; solve successively and use uniqueness on overlaps. This gives a unique parallel field on the whole interval for every $V_a\in T_{\gamma (a)}M$.

Define parallel transport by ${\tau }_t(V_a)=V(t)$. Linearity of the equation and uniqueness give ${\tau }_t(c{V}_a+d{W}_a)=c{\tau }_t(V_a)+d{\tau }_t(W_a)$. Solving along the reversed curve supplies its inverse. Therefore each ${\tau }_t:T_{\gamma (a)}M\to T_{\gamma (t)}M$ is a linear isomorphism.

For two affine connections, put $\Delta (X,Y)={\nabla }_{X}Y-{\tilde{\nabla }}_{X}Y$. Their rules givesince the two $X(f)Y$ terms cancel. The tensoriality of this operation proves that the difference of affine connections is a tensor, of type $(1,2)$, with smooth coordinate coefficients ${\Gamma }^i{}_{jk}-{\tilde{\Gamma }}^i{}_{jk}$.

A parametrized geodesic satisfies $D_t\dot{\gamma }=0$, or the geodesic equationWith $v^i={\dot{\gamma }}^i$, this becomes the first-order system ${\dot{\gamma }}^i=v^i$, ${\dot{v}}^i=-{\Gamma }^i{}_{jk}(\gamma )v^j{v}^k$. Its right side is smooth, so the Picard-Lindelof theorem gives a unique local solution for each initial point and tangent vector. This establishes uniqueness with the parametrization fixed.

The two accelerations differ byIf $\Delta (v,v)=0$ for every tangent vector, either acceleration vanishes exactly when the other does. Conversely, start the $\nabla$-geodesic with arbitrary initial vector $v$ at an arbitrary point. If it is also a $\tilde{\nabla }$-geodesic with the same parameter, evaluating this identity initially gives $\Delta (v,v)=0$. HencePolarization makes the latter condition equivalent to $\Delta (u,v)+\Delta (v,u)=0$: parametrized geodesics determine the symmetric part of an affine connection. In particular torsion-free connections are determined by their parametrized geodesics, since their difference is also symmetric and must then vanish.