Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 56 2 c i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The conserved Killing energy of a geodesic tangent is , where . Conservation follows from and the Killing equation. For the Kerr metric, . Outside the outer Kerr ergoregion, is timelike. Its orthogonal complement is positive definite, so a nonzero causal vector cannot have . Equivalently, if both are future-directed, . HenceThis excludes the open exterior of the stationary-limit surface; on the surface itself a zero-energy null tangent can be proportional to the null stationary vector.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 52 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Yes, at the weak-field accuracy of the experiment. The Pound-Rebka experiment measures gravitational redshift, which Nordstrom theory of gravitation predicts even though it does not predict bending of light.
In a static field, a stationary clock has . A photon has constant Killing energy , and an observer at rest has . Its measured frequency is proportional to . Emission at and reception at therefore giveAn upward ray has when ordinary units are restored, so . This is the shift tested using the Mössbauer effect. The gravitational redshift follows from the physical clock rates; a claim that straight light paths imply no frequency shift would confuse two different observables.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 52 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-18
Assume and use geometric units. The stationary Killing vector field gives the conserved Killing energy . For radial motion, normalization of the four-velocity gives . Combining these identities yieldsAt rest at infinity, and , so . Choose the inward branch . Its proper time from the Schwarzschild event horizon to the curvature singularity isIn ordinary units this is . The endpoint is not a regular centre of the spacetime. This is the Schwarzschild horizon-to-singularity proper time for fall from infinity, rather than a universal time for all infall energies.
For this geodesic congruence, set . Its four-velocity and metric dual areThe right side is an exact one-form because depends only on . Thus , with free-fall proper time in Schwarzschild spacetime determined byIndeed , so this scalar advances by the actual proper time on every member of the infalling geodesic congruence, with a synchronized choice of additive offsets.
Substitution of in the Schwarzschild metric givesUsing , the Painlevé–Gullstrand coordinates therefore haveAll coefficients are finite at ; the determinant of the block is . Hence the horizon is a coordinate singularity of Schwarzschild time, not a degeneracy of the metric. The new spatial slices have , the flat Euclidean metric, and makes their normals the freely falling four-velocities. By contrast, the curvature scalar diverges at ; this genuine singularity is not removed.
For ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates, use with , for example . ThenBoth constructions cross the future horizon. Their time functions have different meanings: is an ingoing null hypersurface, whereas is a flat spacelike hypersurface orthogonal to the infallers. Thus the former is adapted to ingoing null geodesics, and the latter to a timelike free-fall clock congruence.
For the Kruskal diagram, choose Kruskal–Szekeres coordinates with , in the right exterior and extend them across its horizon. They obeyThe four regions of Kruskal spacetime are I, the right exterior ; II, the future black hole ; III, the other exterior ; and IV, the past white hole . The null axes are horizons, their intersection is the bifurcation two-sphere, and the spacelike boundaries are the future and past curvature singularities. A point in this radial diagram represents a symmetry two-sphere.
Kruskal extension with both exteriors, black hole and white hole; the ingoing Painlevé-Gullstrand domain is shaded blue
. Details. The domain of the ingoing Painleve-Gullstrand chart is region I together with region II and their common future horizon. More precisely, it is , , or with finite . To verify the boundary rather than infer it from the locally regular metric, put and writeThis follows by subtracting from the preceding radial primitive, and is finite at . Thus throughout the chart. Conversely every point with and gives a finite . The past horizon , the bifurcation sphere, region III and region IV are absent. Reversing the sign of the radial term produces the outgoing chart through the white hole instead.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 54 2 f Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The stress-energy tensor is already first order, so its energy flux can be evaluated on the unperturbed Schwarzschild event horizon , with the infinity-normalized Killing vector field . On this background , and henceThe conserved stress-energy current from a Killing vector is . Its radial component is negative, so the positive inward energy flux is . Using the directed null-surface measure givesThe initial and final event horizon areas are and . Thus . With Schwarzschild surface gravity , the Physical-process first law of black-hole mechanics follows:The flux is Killing energy, including gravitational redshift, rather than the energy measured by a sequence of static observers arbitrarily close to the event horizon.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 51 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use geometrized units and metric signature ; is proper time. The Killing vectors and of the Schwarzschild metric give the conserved specific Killing energy and specific angular momentumPut . In the equatorial plane , and normalization of the four-velocity givesChoosing the inward branch therefore yieldsThe divergence of the time component at the Schwarzschild event horizon is a coordinate effect; the inward radial component tends to .
Capture from infinity. To reach the event horizon from infinity, the radial square must remain nonnegative throughout . Equivalently,Differentiating the right side gives , so its minimum occurs at and equals . Thusis the necessary capture bound. At equality the radial numerator is . An inward particle arriving from larger radii approaches the unstable orbit only after infinite proper time, because is proportional to near that orbit. Actual plunges from infinity require . This is Schwarzschild marginally bound capture.
The origin-at-infinity hypothesis is important and is not explicit in the PDF. A particle already inside the angular-momentum barrier can plunge with larger . For example, and initial radius give positive radial numerator , remaining positive as decreases to . This trajectory has and reaches the event horizon. Thus an unrestricted claim about every inward particle would be false; the bound is the intended capture-from-infinity statement.
Invariant collision energy. At a collision, the total four-momentum is . The invariant center-of-mass energy uses the covariant metric:The PDF instead prints a raised metric multiplying raised velocities. That contraction is not a tensor scalar; the corrected expression above, or a raised metric with lowered momenta, is required. Since each four-velocity has norm ,Let . For two inward trajectories the radial product is positive, and direct substitution into the Schwarzschild metric givesPutting these terms over one denominator proves
Horizon limit and the upper bound. A cancellation-free way to take the limit is to write and . As ,Henceand thereforeFor particles captured from infinity, , giving in the horizon limit. For actual captured trajectories the inequality is strict, but the supremum is approached by and . Their azimuthal starting positions can be chosen so that the trajectories meet. If particles may instead be prepared near the event horizon, the counterexample , has limiting energy ; no universal bound then follows.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 54 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Physical-process first law for a rotating black hole, in four-dimensional general relativity with , isIt applies to a small neutral matter influx into an initially stationary, nonextremal black hole that settles to another stationary state. The background surface gravity and angular velocity are and , and are the Killing energy and angular momentum delivered through the event horizon. Other conserved charges are held fixed. The perturbation must be small enough that its horizon generators do not develop caustics, and all equalities below are to first order.
Let be the stationary Killing vector field normalized at infinity, and the axial Killing vector field with -periodic orbits. The horizon generator is . Choose an affine tangent and parameter with zero at the past stationary limiting section, so affine horizon-generator scaling gives, on the background horizonThe background null expansion and null shear vanish, and null twist vanishes for the hypersurface-orthogonal horizon generators. Linearizing the Null Raychaudhuri equation and using the Einstein field equations givesThe quadratic null expansion and null shear terms are second order. With background cross-sectional measure , the first-order area change is . Multiplying the evolution equation by and integrating by parts gives the first-order horizon-area response to matter fluxThe boundary term vanishes: at the past limiting section, and the final stationary boundary condition gives zero expansion in the settled future. Equivalently, assume a sufficiently localized influx with the required late-time decay.
The energy and angular-momentum fluxes have signsThese correspond to the particle conventions and . Their combination isThis proves the requested Physical-process first law of black-hole mechanics. For charged infall the corresponding law contains an additional horizon-potential term ; the energy-minus-angular-momentum version assumes that work term is absent.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 311 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A spacetime is geodesically complete if every maximal geodesic has an affine parameter ranging over all of . For timelike geodesics this is equivalent to unbounded proper time in both directions. An extendible geodesic segment can be prolonged in the same spacetime; an inextendible geodesic cannot. A finite coordinate endpoint need not imply finite affine parameter.
For the Kruskal spacetime, use withIn the right exterior . A truncated ray , is an extendible geodesic of radial null type: neither artificial endpoint is a spacetime boundary. A future ray in the black hole reaches , hence , and is inextendible geodesic and future null-geodesically incomplete. Its Killing energy gives , so the Schwarzschild singularity occurs at finite affine parameter. The maximal continuation toward the past supplies the other half of this same null geodesic.
There is no inextendible, complete radial timelike geodesic in positive-mass Kruskal spacetime. This requested example is impossible as printed. For a radial timelike geodesic, the conserved Killing energy and normalization giveIf , has at most one turning point, a maximum ; a maximal trajectory runs from the white hole Schwarzschild singularity to the Schwarzschild singularity. If , there is no finite turning point; one end can lie at infinity but the other reaches . The exceptional trajectory through the bifurcation surface also reaches in both time directions. Near ,whose integral is finite. Constant- radial timelike curves are accelerated, not geodesics.
Two plausible repairs have different meanings. Removing “radial” permits a complete circular timelike geodesic at , with nonzero angular momentum and proper time ranging over . Replacing “timelike” by “null” permits a complete horizon null geodesic: , , with an affine parameter. The Penrose diagram shows both repairs explicitly, together with the two valid requested examples; the circular trajectory is only a radial projection and is labelled as nonradial.
Kruskal causal diagram with extendible and incomplete null rays and explicitly labelled repairs to the impossible radial timelike example
. Details. The horizontal boundaries are the Schwarzschild singularities, diagonal dashed lines are the Killing horizons, and outer diagonal edges are null infinity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 311 1 c ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-18
For radial free fall, let be Alice's conserved Killing energy. The inward branch of the timelike geodesic has , henceWith , the near-horizon geodesic equations giveThe constants in the logarithms are understood to make their arguments dimensionless. Therefore . For an outgoing signal reaching the fixed-radius Bob, , so . The redshift consequently behaves asThis is the answer when is Bob's Schwarzschild time, as appropriate to the stated observation. It is the Schwarzschild surface gravity . If instead means the emission Schwarzschild time , the same redshift is proportional to and gives . The two answers use different clocks, not different dynamics. If the measured exponential uses Bob's proper time , its rate is . In SI units the reception-time result is .
The reception-time exponent also holds for smooth radial infall crossing the future Schwarzschild event horizon with finite nonzero : regular ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates give finite there, . Thus no special value of is needed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 311 4 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Consider a real Klein-Gordon field on a prescribed globally hyperbolic spacetime, obeying with metric signature . A curvature coupling can be included as . A Cauchy hypersurface and compactly supported smooth data determine a unique solution; appropriate falloff can replace compact support. The real solution space has conserved symplectic formConservation follows by integrating the divergence-free current , with no boundary flux. On complex solutions the conserved Klein-Gordon inner product isIt is indefinite on the full complex solution space.
Choose a complete positive-norm mode subspace, with modes satisfyingEquivalently choose a compatible complex structure on the Klein-Gordon solution space. The mode labels may be continuous, in which case sums and Kronecker symbols become integrals and Dirac delta functions. Construct the one-particle Hilbert space from these modes and its bosonic Fock space. Promote the field to the operator-valued distributionFor a foliation with spatial metric determinant , the conjugate momentum density is . Mode completeness gives the equal-time canonical commutation relationsThe Fock vacuum obeys , and counts particles in the chosen mode. For local products and a renormalized stress-energy tensor, physically admissible states are further restricted by the Hadamard condition. The field algebra exists without a preferred Fock vacuum.
A different admissible mode splitting can mix positive and negative norms:Orthonormality imposes the canonical identities for a bosonic Bogoliubov transformationThe same field then hasWithout a preferred notion of positive frequency, a nonstationary spacetime supplies no distinguished mode splitting: particle number and vacuum depend on the choice of modes, although the field equation and field algebra do not. With infinitely many modes the Bogoliubov transformation need not be unitarily implementable; finite total mixing requires a Hilbert-Schmidt operator .
For a stable strictly stationary spacetime, a chosen future globally timelike Killing vector field gives a preferred time translation. Choose modes withWhen the corresponding conserved Killing energy is positive and the spectral problem has suitable boundary conditions and no problematic zero modes, this gives the preferred vacuum state in a stationary spacetime and particles relative to . Positive-frequency mode mixing within that same subspace leaves the Fock vacuum unchanged. Rescaling by a positive constant changes the frequency units but not their sign.
Stationarity alone, if it only means a Killing field timelike near infinity, is insufficient for a global unique particle interpretation. In the Kerr ergoregion, is spacelike, so positive frequency relative to does not automatically select a positive-norm subspace throughout the geometry; superradiance illustrates the difficulty. Additional vacuum and boundary choices remain necessary. The customary stationary answer therefore assumes a suitable timelike stationary flow and a stable positive-energy quantization; it does not assert that every stationary black-hole extension has one globally preferred vacuum.
Past exam of the relativity course of the University of Cambridge 2012 Paper 1 3 Solution 2026-10-20
The Einstein tensor and its contractions areTo match the supplied Ricci tensor components, use the Riemann curvature tensor conventionThis convention also fixes the sign used for geodesic deviation above. In vacuum, tracing the Einstein field equations gives . Substitution therefore yields .
Differentiate the angular field equation to obtainConsequently and . The other angular component follows from . Thus the single angular equation implies all the displayed vacuum equations wherever this coordinate chart is regular.
Integrating gives . Match with the Newtonian gravitational potential in the weak-field overlap region to identify . Hence the Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime hasNegative instead gives the Schwarzschild--anti-de Sitter black hole case. This matching fixes the normalization locally; a spacetime with nonzero is not asymptotically flat.
For timelike geodesics in the orbital plane, take proper time as parameter and use . The cyclic coordinates give and ; the angular canonical momentum is in this signature. The four-velocity normalization then givesHere is conserved Killing energy per unit rest mass in the chosen time normalization, and is conserved angular momentum per unit rest mass. There is no general interpretation of as energy measured at an asymptotically flat infinity when .
For radial motion , differentiation gives . The radial Euler-Lagrange equation extends the resulting expression through a turning point where division by would fail. ThusThis is the proper-time second derivative of the areal radius, not a nonzero four-acceleration of the freely falling particle. Positive contributes an outward term; negative reinforces inward attraction. Restoring units in the slow-motion, weak-field Newtonian limit givesThe extra term describes the gravitational effect of a cosmological constant, not drag or a contact force. The approximation requires , and speed much less than .
Past exam of the relativity course of the University of Cambridge 2012 Paper 1 4 Solution 2026-10-20
Put and let dots now denote an affine parameter derivative. The null geodesic lagrangian in the orbital plane is . The time and azimuthal Euler-Lagrange equations integrate once; the null normalization givesFor completeness, the differential radial geodesic equation isthe remaining differential equations are and . Spherical symmetry permits the equatorial choice.
Eliminating yields . For , divide by :The impact parameter is unchanged by a common rescaling of the affine parameter. At infinity it is times angular momentum divided by energy. Radial photons have and obey the undivided equation .
The effective potential is zero at , positive outside, and tends to zero as . Its derivative is . ThusThe circular null geodesic lies at a maximum, since . It is unstable: a small radial displacement away from the maximum permits motion away from the orbit. For incoming photons from infinity in the exterior of a black hole, an outer turning point exists when ; for the photon can cross the event horizon. For a material central body, the vacuum circular orbit is relevant only if lies outside its surface.
Photon potential and horizon-penetrating light cones
. Details. For the new coordinates, set , so . The geodesic Lagrangian is . Cyclic-coordinate conservation and the null condition give the required analogous equations:Here denotes the same conserved time-translation quantity as before. The transformation is . In particular, the displayed time coordinate belongs to Ingoing Kerr-Schild coordinates for Schwarzschild spacetime; the usual advanced null coordinate of ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates is . Using a metric tensor with a vanishing coefficient while retaining the name would therefore solve a different coordinate representation.
An elimination that stays finite at the horizon is especially simple:The middle equality uses . Hence the radial energy equation and are unchanged, including the horizon limit. The radial metric tensor block has determinant and is regular at . Its radial null directions are and , as shown in the original schematic.
This coordinate invariance of the Schwarzschild photon radial potential follows because the transformation changes the time slicing but preserves the areal radius and the stationary Killing vector field . Consequently the conserved Killing energy, angular momentum and impact parameter are the same. photon capture, the circular orbit and the radial turning points cannot depend on coordinate labels; coordinate velocities can.
Past exam of the relativity course of the University of Cambridge 2015 Paper 1 1 b Solution 2026-10-20
Assume an emitter at rest on the stellar surface and a static observer at infinity. Write . The time-translation Killing energy of a photon is conserved, while the locally measured photon energy is proportional to . ConsequentlyUsing , , and ,The Schwarzschild radius is approximately , below the given surface radius. The positive shift is therefore a gravitational redshift of an escaping photon, with received wavelength about times the emitted wavelength. A moving emitter would introduce an additional Doppler factor; that is outside this static-surface model. The weak-field estimate is insufficient at this compactness. These stated constants are numerical conventions, not a claim about an unavailable historical handbook's last digits.
Past exam of the relativity course of the University of Cambridge 2018 Section B B3 Solution 2026-10-18
Use the metric signature and abbreviate , with a length. Dots initially mean differentiation with respect to an affine parameter . The geodesic Lagrangian in the equatorial plane isThe planarity of geodesics in spherical symmetry permits this plane to be chosen. More explicitly, the full angular Euler-Lagrange equation is , so initial data , preserve it.
Both and are cyclic coordinates. Their Euler-Lagrange equations give conserved conjugate momenta and . Defining constants therefore givesThe corresponding second-order geodesic equations areand variation of givesThe geodesic Lagrangian has no explicit dependence. Its conserved Lagrangian energy function is , since it is quadratic in the tangent components. Thus twice this function is a constant:This is the constant squared tangent norm of an affinely parametrized geodesic.
For a massive particle choose , its proper time, and obtain . For a photon, the tangent is null and . A general rescaling of a massive particle's affine parameter rescales a positive ; the numerical value requires the proper time choice. With that choice, is signed specific angular momentum, of units , and is dimensionless conserved specific Killing energy. The time coordinate is normalized to proper time at infinity, so this is the particle's conserved energy referred to infinity. A photon's constants scale with the normalization of its null tangent; it has no rest frame or proper time parametrization.
Substitution of and into the norm gives the general radial first integralFor a massive particle this becomesAdopting the usual half-normalization for the effective potential for timelike Schwarzschild geodesics, defineAll terms have units , or energy per unit mass. The first two terms are the Newtonian gravitational and centrifugal contributions; the last is the relativistic correction.
A circular orbit requires both and . Differentiating at fixed givesThe radial first integral also givesFor the future-directed circular orbit at , these constants are , , and . ThereforeSince Schwarzschild time agrees with the clock time of a static observer at infinity, the intended infinity-referred tangential orbital speed isThis uses the circumferential areal radius with the clock at infinity; it is not a local measurement made at the orbit. A local static observer's clock instead has and measures . These two operationally different speeds explain the significance of the phrase “at infinity”.
The effective-potential stability of a circular orbit follows fromConsequently the orbit exists but is unstable to radial perturbations. The original plot below shows its position at a maximum, for .
For a weak-field elliptic orbit, the relativistic correction makes the direction of closest approach advance after each radial cycle. The derivations under i and ii below giveper orbit to first order, where is the semi-major axis and the orbital eccentricity. For Mercury, the additional Schwarzschild perihelion precession is approximately 43 arcseconds per century, over and above the much larger Newtonian precession produced primarily by other planets. It is the unexplained residual after those effects have been included that provides the classic quantitative test of general relativity; one should not identify the whole observed precession with this relativistic correction.[ref]
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20180000952/downloads/20180000952.pdf. PDF p. 2: planetary perturbations about 531.63 arcseconds per Julian century and additional relativistic precession about 42.98 arcseconds per Julian century
Past exam of the relativity course of the University of Cambridge 2022 Section B 5 a Solution 2026-10-18
Write . In the equatorial plane, the geodesic Lagrangian is . The cyclic coordinates and give the conserved quantitiesThe squared tangent norm is constant along an affinely parametrized geodesic, since metric compatibility gives . HenceFor a massive particle parametrized by proper time, ; a photon has a null tangent, so . This denotes the tangent norm, not the photon's physical energy. A future-directed exterior photon has , proportional to its positive Killing energy. Its affine parameter can be rescaled, so there is no mass-shell normalization fixing to a particular positive value.
Schwarzschild horizon collision energy 2026-10-07
For two equal-mass inward timelike geodesics of unit specific Killing energy, their invariant center-of-mass energy has this finite horizon limit. If both are captured from infinity, Schwarzschild marginally bound capture gives , with a supremum. No such universal bound follows for particles prepared inside the angular-momentum barrier.
Schwarzschild marginally bound capture 2026-10-07
A timelike geodesic with unit specific Killing energy can plunge from infinity into a Schwarzschild black hole only if its specific angular momentum satisfies . The limiting case asymptotes to the unstable orbit at . A geodesic already inside the angular-momentum barrier can cross the event horizon with larger , so the origin-at-infinity condition matters.
Schwarzschild radial fall from rest at a finite radius Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-18
For radial timelike geodesic fall released from rest at , the Killing energy is and the proper time radial equation is . The displayed parameterization integrates its inward branch, with at release. The Schwarzschild event horizon is reached at in finite proper time, even though Schwarzschild time diverges.
// Target: general-relativity.bigb
Static-surface Schwarzschild redshift Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-10-24
A static emitter at radius and a static receiver at infinity compare photon wavelengths with . Conservation of the time-translation Killing energy and the static clock rate prove the relation. Motion of the emitter adds a Doppler factor; a rotating stellar exterior may require a different metric.



