Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 311 3 a i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
There are no or terms in the displayed Einstein-Hilbert action, so the lapse function and shift vector have zero canonical momenta. Their equations impose constraint equations in field theory rather than independent propagation; they are Lagrange multipliers in the Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity.
With the question's positive sign for , vary at fixed . Since ,Thus the canonical momentum of the spatial metric is a weight-one tensor density. Write ; in three spatial dimensions , soThe action has suppressed its overall , and this normalization is retained here. Reversing the sign convention for extrinsic curvature would reverse the momentum relation; the calculation uses exactly the convention supplied in this question.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 306 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The closed string already contains the particle required for quantum gravity. For bosonic string theory in its critical dimension of string theory, the mass-shell condition and closed-string level matching areAt , the states are massless. After imposing the Virasoro constraints and quotienting null string states, the transverse polarization tensor decomposes into symmetric trace-free, antisymmetric and scalar pieces under . They describe a graviton, the Kalb–Ramond field and the dilaton. In particular, the symmetric trace-free sector is a massless spin-two graviton. Its number of degrees of freedom is .
The state–operator correspondence associates each physical string state with a string vertex operator. For example, the matter part of a massless closed-string vertex operator isIts conformal weights are , so its integrated form is invariant under changes of string worldsheet coordinates. At fixed insertion positions it is accompanied by from the worldsheet ghost fields. Physical vertices represent BRST cohomology classes; longitudinal changes of the polarization tensor are BRST-exact operators and decouple from physical scattering amplitudes. For the graviton, this string-state gauge redundancy becomes the linearized target-space diffeomorphism .
The Polyakov path integral computes a closed-string scattering amplitude by inserting the external string vertex operators, integrating their unfixed positions and the inequivalent worldsheet moduli, and including the worldsheet ghost fields. On a Riemann sphere three positions are fixed by the residual conformal group. For example, contractions of tachyon vertex operators produce the Koba-Nielsen factor, whose position integral gives the Virasoro–Shapiro amplitude.
The string dual resonance property means that one crossing-symmetric scattering amplitude has equivalent expansions in the different channels: its poles exhibit intermediate string states in each channel, rather than separate channel contributions being added again. The scattering-amplitude factorization at a pole identifies the intermediate particle and its couplings. Set , so and the closed-string tachyon has . For four such external states the Mandelstam variables obey . The Virasoro–Shapiro amplitude has generic -channel poles at , exactly the bosonic string mass spectrum in these units.
The massless pole gives an especially direct check. With overall normalization and , the Gamma function recurrence givesThusThe quadratic residue in contains a spin-two exchange. A scalar exchange alone could not give this angular dependence. Combined with the known massless spectrum and scattering-amplitude factorization, it identifies exchange of the graviton, with possible scalar contributions from the dilaton; the antisymmetric Kalb–Ramond field does not couple to two identical scalar tachyons here. Consequently the graviton participates in interactions, rather than being an isolated free state.
Decoupling longitudinal graviton polarizations forces a universal coupling to the conserved stress-energy tensor. Consistency of this massless spin-two gauge invariance extends the linearized coupling to the nonlinear dynamics of general relativity. At distances large compared with , the gravitational sector of the effective action begins with the Einstein-Hilbert action, alongside dilaton and Kalb–Ramond field terms and higher-derivative string corrections. The infinite tower of string states supplies the short-distance completion of this quantum gravity expansion.
Interactions are organized by string worldsheet topology. A constant dilaton gives the string coupling , and a connected oriented surface of genus has Euler characteristic . Its weight is ; with normalized external vertices,The sphere is tree order, the torus is one loop, and each additional handle adds a factor . Each coefficient is an integral over worldsheet moduli, so this is string perturbation theory in , with an independent low-energy expansion in .
For the one-loop vacuum contribution, torus modular invariance identifies with , . Integration is over the standard fundamental domain of the modular group,The potential short-proper-time region , responsible for a point-particle ultraviolet divergence, is absent. It would count metrics already represented elsewhere in . Torus modular invariance is therefore the geometric reason for one-loop ultraviolet finiteness. More explicitly, in the vacuum integrand is proportional to , with the Dedekind eta function; the complete expression is invariant under the modular group.
Ultraviolet finiteness does not make the bosonic one-loop vacuum energy finite. The remaining long-tube region is an infrared divergence from the tachyon: . It signals instability of the bosonic vacuum. Tachyon-free consistent backgrounds remove this particular obstruction, though other infrared effects must still be treated. The ultraviolet improvement comes from the extended string and the complete spectrum together with the worldsheet gauge identifications; the genus expansion remains a perturbative description of quantum gravity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 309 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For the torsion-free Levi-Civita connection, cyclically summing the displayed coordinate expression and using gives the algebraic first Bianchi identityApply the Jacobi identity to three covariant-derivative commutators, or differentiate the coordinate formula in normal coordinates. The third-derivative terms and the derivatives of quadratic connection terms cancel cyclically, giving the differential second Bianchi identityContracting the first and third curvature indices and then contracting once more yieldsor the contracted Bianchi identity
For the metric variation ,while the two double-divergence terms in the supplied metric variation of scalar curvature become a boundary term after integration by parts for tensor fields. The Einstein-Hilbert action therefore contributes . Varying the Proca action with respect to the metric gives the Proca stress-energy tensor, and the full Einstein-Proca theory equation is
Since , variation with respect to and one integration by parts give the covariant Proca equationTaking its covariant divergence givesbecause the resulting contractions pair the symmetric Ricci tensor with the antisymmetric electromagnetic field tensor. Since , the Lorenz constraint in Proca theory follows:Moreover, and , so the Electromagnetic Bianchi identity is
Finally, use that identity to differentiate the matter tensor. The result groups naturally asBoth terms vanish by the Proca equation and its Lorenz constraint in Proca theory. Thus , exactly as required by the contracted Bianchi identity applied to the Einstein field equations. The vector equation is therefore consistent with the gravitational equation.
Varying the coordinate expression for the curvature and replacing partial derivatives by covariant ones givesThereforewhereThis is the metric variation of scalar curvature; its divergence contributes only a boundary term to the variation of the Einstein-Hilbert action.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 306 3 f Solution 2026-09-28
An Einstein-Hilbert action contains two derivatives, so its cubic graviton vertex produces only the part of the product of the two tensors. The string amplitude also contains cross terms of order and a term of order . These cannot arise from pure Einstein gravity. They require higher-curvature corrections, schematicallywith index contractions and coefficients fixed by string amplitudes up to field redefinitions. The full bosonic-string effective action also contains the dilaton and Kalb-Ramond field. Thus Einstein gravity is only its leading low-energy approximation.
Planck mass from compactification volume Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-13
For an unwarped product metric with fixed compact volume , integrating the higher-dimensional Einstein-Hilbert action gives when the action coefficient is . The reduced Planck mass convention must be distinguished from the unreduced one, and stabilizing the internal metric is a separate dynamical issue.
Randall–Sundrum model 2026-10-13
A warped five-dimensional geometry redshifts masses of fields localized on the distant brane: . For the usual doubled orbifold interval, integration of the Einstein-Hilbert action gives . Exponential redshift can generate a large separation of observable scales with a moderately sized dimensionless distance . Stabilizing the radion remains a dynamical requirement.
// Target: physics.bigb
Localizing the rigid supersymmetry of a free Wess–Zumino model produces a derivative of the supersymmetry parameter multiplying the supercurrent. The Noether gauging procedure introduces a gravitino coupled to this current. Closure also requires a vierbein, the Einstein-Hilbert action, covariant matter kinetic terms and higher-order interactions. The leading gravitino-matter coupling contains the derivative of the scalar, not its undifferentiated value.