Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 15 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Fix any point and use a normal orthonormal frame there. Such frames exist: in geodesic normal coordinates, , and the Christoffel symbols vanish at . Applying the Gram-Schmidt process smoothly to the coordinate fields gives identity coefficients at and zero first derivatives there, so it produces the required frame. Reverse one frame vector if necessary to match the orientation.
Because the Levi-Civita connection is torsion-free, . The supplied formula for the exterior derivative of a one-form givesThus , and the graded Leibniz rule implies . Differentiate the formula in part (b):Since , every summand with vanishes because already occurs in . The remaining term has , so both signs cancel. HenceThe point was arbitrary, proving the global exterior derivative of contracted volume form identity