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Let $U$ be the smooth nonzero tangent along a regular null curve, and $a={\nabla }_{U}U$. Metric compatibility gives $g(U,a)=\frac{1}{2}U[g(U,U)]=0$. In a two-dimensional Lorentzian manifold, the orthogonal complement of a nonzero null vector is its own span; this follows directly in the preceding null basis. Therefore $a=\kappa (t)U$.

Consequently every regular null curve is a geodesic up to reparametrization. To obtain an affine parameter $\lambda$, write $q=dt/d\lambda >0$ and solve $dq/dt+\kappa (t)q=0$. Then ${\nabla }_{qU}(qU)=q^2(\kappa +q^{-1}dq/dt)U=0$. A solution $q=C\exp (-\int \kappa dt)$ exists locally and along any nonsingular parameter interval. The original parameter need not be affine; the literal assertion of zero covariant acceleration for every parameter would be false.

Write the nonzero tangent vector as $U=aV+bW$. Since $g(V,V)=g(W,W)=0$ and $g(V,W)=-2$, nullness gives $g(U,U)=-4ab=0$. Thus exactly one coefficient can be nonzero, proving $\boxed{U\parallel V\text{ or }U\parallel W}$. This pointwise argument does not require the curve to be a geodesic.

In Minkowski spacetime with metric $-d{t}^2+d{x}^2+d{y}^2+d{z}^2$, takeIts tangent vector is $(1,-\sin t,\cos t,0)$, with metric tensor square $-1+{\sin }^{2}t+{\cos }^{2}t=0$. Its acceleration is $(0,-\cos t,-\sin t,0)$, nonzero and not proportional to the tangent because its time component is zero. Thus it is a regular null curve which is not a geodesic under any reparametrization.

The Euler-Lagrange equations for the kinetic Lagrangian areExpanding and multiplying by the inverse metric gives the geodesic equationThe kinetic variational principle uses an affine parameter; the energy $g_{ab}{\dot{x}}^a{\dot{x}}^b/2$ is constant along its solutions. Constant curves are also geodesics.

For the Poincare half-plane model, translation in $x$ gives the conserved quantity $p=\dot{x}/y^2$, and the energy is $E=({\dot{x}}^2+{\dot{y}}^2)/(2y^2)$. If $p=0$, the nonconstant geodesics are vertical lines, with $y=y_0{e}^{\pm \sqrt{2E}t}$. If $p\ne 0$,Writing $R^2=2E/p^2$ and integrating $dx/dy=\pm y/\sqrt{R^2-y^2}$ yields $(x-x_0{)}^2+y^2=R^2$. Thus nonconstant geodesic images are vertical lines or upper semicircles meeting the real axis orthogonally.

For the two specified points, the circle centre is $(6,0)$ and the radius is five:For example, an affine unit-speed parametrization is $x=6+5\tanh t$, $y=5\mathrm{sech}t$. The endpoints on the real axis are $(1,0)$ and $(11,0)$, outside the hyperbolic surface.

For $v\in T_{p}S$ sufficiently small, let ${\gamma }_v$ be the geodesic with ${\gamma }_v(0)=p$, ${\dot{\gamma }}_v(0)=v$, and define ${\exp }_p(v)={\gamma }_v(1)$. The domain consists more generally of initial velocities whose geodesic exists through time one. Uniqueness and affine rescaling give ${\exp }_p(tv)={\gamma }_v(t)$ near zero, soThus the differential is the identity under the natural identification of tangent spaces, and the inverse function theorem makes the exponential map a local diffeomorphism near zero.

A punctured plane has geodesics reaching its missing point in finite time, so its exponential map need not be global; adding the point remedies this example. But an extension cannot always remedy the failure. On the punctured circular cone $S=\{(r\cos \theta ,r\sin \theta ,r):r>0\}$, radial generators are geodesics and reach the missing point in finite intrinsic length. Any globally defined extension would have to include their limiting point $(0,0,0)$. The cone's tangent planes have different limits as $\theta$ varies; no smooth embedded surface through that point can contain this punctured circular cone. Hence no such extension exists for this $S$.

For an oriented surface and a closed topological disc $D$ with smooth positively oriented boundary, the Gauss-Bonnet theorem with boundary saysHere $k_g$ is signed geodesic curvature with the disc on the left. A smooth boundary has no corner terms; piecewise smooth boundaries require exterior-angle terms.

For the flat disc in the problem this gives ${\int }_{\partial D}{k}_{g}ds=2\pi$. Conditions (i) and (ii) mean that the proposed replacement disc has the same boundary and agrees with the original smooth surface from the outside. Smoothness therefore gives the same tangent planes, metric derivatives and boundary geodesic curvature on the replacement, with consistent orientation. Applying Gauss-Bonnet to that disc forcesThus these gluing conditions fix the total curvature of any smooth replacement disc, regardless of its detailed interior shape.

The nonnegative continuous Gaussian curvature on the compact replacement disc, together with its zero integral established by Gauss-Bonnet, forces it to vanish at every point of that disc. Outside it the replacement surface agrees with the original flat surface, so its curvature also vanishes there; smoothness covers the common boundary. Consequently no point of the replacement surface can have positive Gaussian curvature. Therefore no surface can satisfy all three conditions. A disc with some positive curvature could only have compensating negative curvature or alter the smooth boundary gluing, both excluded here.

A collective coordinate describes a position, orientation, or another parameter of a family of static solitons. For a family $\Phi (\mathbf{x};q)$, promote $q$ to a slowly varying $q(t)$ and substitute into the field action. In a scalar theory with unit kinetic coefficient, this gives the collective-coordinate effective LagrangianFor a gauge-theory soliton, one also solves the Gauss law constraint in gauge theory constraint and projects out pure gauge transformations; arbitrary variations of gauge representatives do not define the physical metric. Tangent vectors to an exactly equal-energy family are zero modes in field theory. If $V=E_0$ is constant, the Euler-Lagrange equations of this moduli-space approximation arethe geodesic equations of its Riemannian metric. The approximation neglects radiation and deformation modes; it describes motion sufficiently slow that these omitted degrees of freedom remain unexcited to the required accuracy.

In collective-coordinate quantization, take the wavefunction measure $\sqrt{\det g}{d}^{n}q$ and the minimal scalar Hamiltonian operatorThe Laplace-Beltrami operator supplies coordinate-invariant kinetic energy. Global identifications and statistics must be imposed on the wavefunctions; the classical metric alone does not choose them. Curvature-ordering terms and loop corrections are additional quantum input.

For the phi-four kink, use the normalization and profile of Question 1. Substituting $\varphi (x,t)={\varphi }_K(x-X(t))$ givesThe metric is constant because of translation invariance. This proves the translational dynamics of a phi-four kink: classically the centre moves at constant velocity, and quantum mechanicallyPlane waves label the continuous translational momentum, with no position-dependent potential. Uniform-motion Lorentz invariance upgrades the dispersion to $\sqrt{M^2+p^2}$; the displayed collective Lagrangian is its small-velocity expansion. Small perturbations also include an internal shape mode and continuum radiation, which this single collective coordinate omits. The fluctuation operator of a phi-four kink in this normalization isthe translational eigenfunction has ${\omega }^2=0$, the shape mode has ${\omega }^2=3c^2$, and continuum modes in the spectrum start at ${\omega }^2=4c^2$. Thus the free-coordinate states describe the kink's low translational energies, not its full excitation spectrum or quantum mass correction.

For two Abelian Higgs vortices at critical coupling, the static energy is $2M_v$ and the Abelian Higgs vortex moduli space has four real dimensions. Let $z_1,z_2$ be their positions, $Z=(z_1+z_2)/2$, and $q=z_1-z_2$. The centre of mass decouples; the relative metric is rotationally symmetric and can be writtenAt large separation, $F(\rho )\to M_v/2$, recovering two free particles. Although there is no static separation potential, the nonconstant metric produces velocity-dependent interaction. Coincidence is smooth in the relative coordinate for two identical vortices $w=q^2$, not in the double-valued $q$. Smoothness gives $F(\rho )\sim C{\rho }^2$ for $C>0$ near zero. A head-on geodesic continues through $w=0$ to the opposite real ray, so $q$ changes its line by $\pi /2$: the vortices scatter through a right angle. This geometric argument does not require an explicit formula for $F$.

With ordinary bosonic exchange statistics, relative wavefunctions are single-valued in $w$ and smooth at coincidence. In the separated polar coordinate they obey $\Psi (\rho ,\theta +\pi )=\Psi (\rho ,\theta )$, with even integer angular labels. Their kinetic operator isThe apparent singularity at $\rho =0$ must be resolved with the smooth $w$ coordinate and regularity, rather than arbitrary boundary conditions on a punctured cone. The free centre-of-mass motion and the asymptotically free relative geometry give quantum scattering states; a flat static energy does not imply that the metric is flat or that scattering is absent. This is not a prediction of a discrete family of static two-vortex bound separations. The smooth collision geometry is developed in David Tong's arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0509216.

For a Skyrmion of baryon number one, the Skyrmion hedgehog ansatz iswhere $\mathbf{\sigma }$ are the Pauli matrices. Include a centre $\mathbf{X}$ and an orientation $A\in SU(2)$ through $U=A{U}_0(\mathbf{x}-\mathbf{X})A^{-1}$. Hedgehog symmetry identifies spatial rotations with opposite internal rotations, so there are three independent orientation coordinates, not six. Since $A$ and $-A$ give the same field, the physical orientation space is $SO(3)$, with SU(2) group as its double cover. Write $A^{-1}\dot{A}=i\mathbf{\omega }\cdot \mathbf{\sigma }/2$. The leading collective Lagrangian has the formwhere $\Lambda >0$ is the rotational moment of inertia obtained by integrating the profile's field kinetic energy.

For the fermionic quantization appropriate to baryons, the Finkelstein-Rubinstein constraints on the double cover impose $\Psi (-A)=-\Psi (A)$. In SU(2) representations, the central element $-1$ acts by $(-1{)}^{2j}$, so $j$ must be half-integer. Left and right group actions supply isospin and spin angular momentum; hedgehog symmetry makes their magnitudes equal. The rotational quantization of a unit Skyrmion therefore givesThe $j=1/2$ level has four spin-isospin states and models the nucleon doublet, proton and neutron, each with two spin states. The $j=3/2$ level has sixteen states and models the Delta baryon quartet, each with four spin states. The rotor predicts a splitting $3{\hslash }^2/(2\Lambda )$. Without the fermionic sign, single-valued functions on $SO(3)$ would instead allow integer $j$, which is a different quantization. High rotor levels can couple to deformation and pion radiation; this semiclassical approximation does not establish that its entire formal tower consists of stable particles.

Let $D_{abc}={\nabla }_a{\nabla }_b{K}_c$. Differentiating the Killing equation gives $D_{abc}=-D_{acb}$. For a covector, the Ricci identity isCall this difference $C_{abc}$. The differentiated Killing equation then givesTaking the first minus the second plus the third yieldsThe pair symmetries of the Riemann curvature tensor and the first Bianchi identity reduce the coefficient to $2R_{cbad}$. Therefore the second covariant derivative of a Killing vector is

For an affine parameter $\lambda$ on a geodesic, its tangent obeys $V^b{\nabla }_b{V}^a=0$. ThusThe second term vanishes by the geodesic equation; the first contracts a symmetric product $V^a{V}^b$ with the antisymmetric derivative from the Killing equation. This establishes the geodesic conserved quantity from a Killing vector:

By spherical symmetry, rotate a geodesic into the equatorial plane $\theta =\pi /2$. The geodesic conserved quantities from Killing vectors arewhere the dot denotes a suitable affine parameter. Normalize the tangent by $g(\dot{x},\dot{x})=-ϵ$, with $ϵ=1$ for timelike proper time, $ϵ=-1$ for spacelike proper length, and $ϵ=0$ for null geodesics. ThenTherefore the geodesic potential of the magnetic dilaton black hole isTogether with the two conserved first integrals, this reduces the radial motion to ${\dot{r}}^2/2+\tilde{V}=0$. To cover turning points as well, the radial geodesic equation itself givesThus a constant-radius geodesic must satisfy both $\tilde{V}=0$ and ${\tilde{V}}^{\prime }=0$. The intermediate static-coordinate formulas apply where $V\ne 0$; the radial equation extends through a regular horizon in regular coordinates.

A twice differentiable curve $\gamma :I\to S$ is a geodesic when its velocity is parallel along the curve:For a surface embedded in ${\mathbb{R}}^3$, the ambient acceleration criterion for a surface geodesic gives the equivalent conditionThe parameter $t$ is then an affine parameter, and $|\dot{\gamma }|$ is constant.

For an affine parameter $\lambda$, the geodesic Lagrangian isVarying $S=\int \mathcal{L}d\lambda$ gives the geodesic equations

The rotational Killing vector fields of the spherical symmetry conserve the angular-momentum vector. Its direction is fixed, so every nonradial orbit lies in the plane through the symmetry centre orthogonal to that vector. A spatial rotation can make this the equatorial plane. Equivalently, the initial conditions $\theta =\pi /2$ and $\dot{\theta }=0$ solve the $\theta$ equation uniquely. This is the planarity of geodesics in spherical symmetry; a radial geodesic has zero angular momentum and may be assigned any plane.

On $\theta =\pi /2$, the cyclic coordinates $t$ and $\varphi$ produce geodesic conserved quantities from Killing vectors,For a timelike geodesic parametrized by proper time, the proper-time normalization is $g_{ab}{\dot{x}}^a{\dot{x}}^b=-1$. Substitution of $E$ and $L$ gives the first-order radial equationThis is the timelike geodesic effective potential for static Anti-de Sitter spacetime with curvature radius one.

A geodesic passing through $r=0$ must have $L=0$. If it moves away from the origin, $E>1$, andTaking proper time $s=0$ at departure givesIt turns around at $s=\pi /2$ and first returns to the origin atThis energy-independent refocusing is the characteristic radial timelike geodesic in anti-de Sitter spacetime result; for curvature radius $a$, the answer is $\pi a$.

The coordinate vector fields on the parameter surface commute, so their pushforwards satisfyBecause the Levi-Civita connection is torsion free, part (i) then givesEvery $t$-curve is an affinely parametrized geodesic, hence ${\nabla }_{T}T=0$. Applying the definition of the Riemann curvature tensor,Therefore the connecting vector is a Jacobi field and obeys the geodesic deviation equation

Choose an orthonormal basis $(e_1,e_2)$ of $T_{p}S$ and write $e(\theta )=\cos \theta e_1+\sin \theta e_2$. On a punctured disc on which the exponential map is a diffeomorphism, the mapdefines geodesic polar coordinates centred at $p$. The curves $r\mapsto X(r,\theta )$ are unit-speed geodesics, so the first coefficient of the first fundamental form isThe Gauss lemma says that radial and angular coordinate vectors are orthogonal, hence

The angular variation $J=X_{\theta }$ is a Jacobi field along each radial geodesic, with initial dataSince $G=⟨X_{\theta },X_{\theta }⟩=|J{|}^2$, smooth dependence of the geodesic flow givesConsequentlyas required.

Take $u=v=l_{\xi }$ and $w=l_{\eta }$ in the identity from part (e). For a left-invariant metric, all three scalar products are constant and $[l_{\xi },l_{\xi }]=0$, soThe curve ${\gamma }_{\xi }$ has velocity $l_{\xi }$, hence is a geodesic exactly when ${\nabla }_{l_{\xi }}{l}_{\xi }=0$. Nondegeneracy of the inner product now givesThis is the geodesic-vector criterion for a left-invariant metric.

A unit-speed curve on a smooth embedded surface is a geodesic exactly when its acceleration is normal to the surface, equivalently when its tangential acceleration vanishes.

Every unit-speed geodesic on the cylinder through $(1,0,0)$ has the formIndeed, unrolling the cylinder to its universal cover ${\mathbb{R}}^2$ turns these curves into straight lines. Directly,which is parallel to the cylinder's radial normal vector, verifying the geodesic characterization. Such a geodesic is closed exactly when $b=0$; its image is then the horizontal circle $z=0$.

Yes. In polar coordinates $(r,\theta )$ on ${\mathbb{R}}^2\setminus \{0\}$, use the Riemannian metricThe coordinate $u=\log r$ identifies this surface isometrically with the flat cylinder $\mathbb{R}\times S^1$. Through each point, the circle $u=\text{constant}$ is a closed geodesic, and every other geodesic has nonzero linear motion in $u$ and is not closed. Thus every point lies on a unique closed geodesic.