Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 63 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let on the fluid region and choose the Killing vector field to be future-directed. The normalized four-velocity isThe Killing equation implies both andConsequently its Killing-flow four-acceleration isFor a scalar, the Lie derivative is . Thus the assumed stationarity of the pressure gives . These are the ingredients needed for hydrostatic equilibrium along a Killing vector; hypersurface orthogonality of is not needed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 63 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Substitute the Killing-flow four-acceleration and stationary pressure into the relativistic Euler equation. It givesFor the equation of state of blackbody radiation, , this becomes . The barotropic hydrostatic first integral therefore gives, on each connected nonvacuum fluid region,This is the stationary radiation density law. Combining it with the Stefan–Boltzmann law also gives the Tolman–Ehrenfest relation .
At a regular finite free surface, a smooth Killing vector field has finite norm. Hence cannot approach zero there. More globally, its norm has a finite upper bound on a compact regular fluid closure, which bounds the density away from zero whenever . If the timelike norm instead tends to zero, the density diverges. Thus a radiation fluid has no regular free surface: a finite radiation-filled cavity needs a material wall supporting nonzero pressure, rather than an unsupported radiation-vacuum interface.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 66 1 b ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take the first centre at the origin. If some listed centres coincide, first combine their poles; let be the total residue at the origin, so when the centres are distinct. The contributions from centres away from the origin are real analytic there. Their constant term iswhere is analytic in and in local angular charts. This follows by substituting in the ordinary Taylor expansions of the regular contributions. The constant is independent of angle, which makes the hinted coordinate differential integrable.
Put , , and defineinitially for . Substitution into the metric givesThe apparently singular radial coefficient is actuallysince . All coefficients therefore extend analytically to negative and positive near zero, with . At the horizon , , and the angular metric is . The determinant is both before and at the extension, so the metric remains nondegenerate and Lorentzian. Angular coordinate singularities are handled by ordinary sphere charts. This explicitly constructs the analytic extension of a Majumdar–Papapetrou horizon.
Inverting the radial block gives , which vanishes at . Thus the hypersurface is null. Its normal agrees there with the metric dual of : on the horizon. The metric is independent of , so is a Killing vector field and the null hypersurface is a Killing horizon.
The surface gravity obeys on a Killing horizon. Here has a double zero and its entire differential vanishes at , while is the nonzero normal. ConsequentlyThe horizon is degenerate. Its cross-sectional area is , independent of the centres away from the origin. The essential cancellation would fail with an arbitrary constant in place of the displayed regular part .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 66 1 b i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use geometrized units . For a stationary asymptotically flat spacetime, normalize the timelike Killing vector field to have squared norm at infinity. The Komar mass isHere the oriented binormal is chosen so that an ordinary positive-mass static solution gives a positive integral. Equivalently, on a static slice with lapse and outward spatial unit normal ,This second expression fixes the orientation unambiguously and is convenient for the Majumdar–Papapetrou solution.
The spatial metric is and . On a large coordinate sphere, and . ThusThe original PDF has the Euclidean norm in each source denominator, which is missing in the TeX aid. With that norm, the harmonic function has asymptoticsThereforeIf are retained as length parameters while is restored, the physical mass is . This is the charge at infinity. A Komar integral is not generally surface-independent here, since Einstein-Maxwell theory has the electromagnetic stress-energy tensor between the surfaces; in particular it should not be confused with a sum of vacuum horizon Komar charges.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 66 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use geometrized units . The Physical-process first law of black-hole mechanics concerns a small perturbation of a rotating black hole in an initially stationary spacetime by infalling matter, followed by relaxation to another stationary spacetime. For an uncharged black hole, or neutral accretion with charge held fixed, its first-order statement isHere is the background surface gravity, is the background horizon angular velocity, and is the change in event horizon area. The energy and angular momentum are the fluxes carried into the event horizon; when these account for the changes of the black hole, they equal and its change of angular momentum. The result is a linearized law, not an exact identity for a finite violent accretion event. The perturbation must be small enough that focusing does not produce new caustics or invalidate the expansion about the existing generators.
Let be the stationary Killing vector field normalized at infinity, the axial Killing vector field with -periodic orbits, andOn the background Killing horizon, is its future-directed null generator and satisfies . Choose a parameter with . The null expansion in this parameter is . The generator is not affinely parametrized; if is affine, then after an appropriate choice of affine origin, with . Rescaling the Null Raychaudhuri equation givesThe null twist vanishes because the generators are normal to the event horizon. By the Einstein field equations, . Background null expansion and null shear vanish on a Killing horizon of the background stationary spacetime. Thus and are first order, their squares are second order, and the linearized equation isThe final stationary spacetime supplies the boundary condition in the future. Explicitly,This future boundary condition reflects the global definition of the event horizon. For localized infall, also tends to zero in the remote past. Integrating the linearized equation along the generators, and then over a background cross-section with area element , givesUsing the background area element introduces only second-order corrections.
With orientations chosen so that future infalling positive energy has positive flux, the conserved Killing energy and axial angular momentum giveConsequently , proving the displayed Physical-process first law of black-hole mechanics. Restoring replaces by . The null energy condition makes the integral nonnegative and therefore implies area increase in this regime; that condition is needed for the sign conclusion, not for the linearized flux identity itself. Charged infall would require the additional electrostatic work term, and an extremal background needs separate treatment because the proof uses .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 56 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Work in geometrized units , with the stationary Killing vector field normalized by at infinity. Put , , and ; is the areal radius. The static spherical Komar mass in reciprocal radial gauge givesIndeed the future and outward unit normals to a round sphere are and , and . The Komar mass integral is therefore . Since and ,Taking the asymptotic limit yieldsThis agrees with . The finite-radius Komar integral need not equal its asymptotic value, because this solution is not vacuum. Restoring divides the mass expression by when has dimensions of length.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 56 1 e Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
In advanced coordinates, is a Killing vector field and . The normal covector to is ; raising it gives , which equals on the horizon. Thus is a null hypersurface normal to , and hence a Killing horizon.
The surface gravity is defined by on this horizon, equivalently . Here , so the radial component gives . Because ,It is positive for all finite real and ; the stationary Killing vector field retains its asymptotic normalization.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 56 1 f Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Set . Since , the integrand defining the tortoise coordinate has a simple pole:where is analytic near . Define the Kruskal–Szekeres coordinates in the right exterior by and . ThenThe right-hand side has positive nonzero derivative at . Continuing this relation analytically, rather than retaining an absolute value, makes an analytic function of through both signs. The Kruskal extension across a simple static horizon has metricIts radial coefficient tends to , finite and nonzero, while . Therefore both null surfaces and are regular horizon branches, intersecting at a smooth two-sphere .
The stationary Killing vector field becomesIt is null, tangent and normal on each horizon branch and vanishes on their intersection. This proves that is a bifurcate Killing horizon, with bifurcation surface of area . The exponential definitions specify one exterior; allowing all signs of supplies the remaining quadrants of the extension.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 56 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
An asymptotically flat spacetime is a stationary spacetime if it admits a complete stationary Killing vector field , with , timelike near infinity and normalized there to a unit time translation. It need not remain timelike in an ergoregion of a stationary spacetime. It is axisymmetric if it admits an axial Killing vector field , whose flow is a rotational action: its spacelike orbits away from the axis are closed with period , and it vanishes on the regular rotation axis. For a stationary axisymmetric spacetime, the generators can be chosen to commute, . These are geometric symmetries, not merely time-independent or angle-independent coordinate labels.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 56 2 c ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A Killing horizon must be a null hypersurface whose normal is a Killing vector field. The outer stationary-limit surface instead has and, in Boyer-Lindquist coordinates,On it, , so away from the rotation axis. Its normal is spacelike and the surface timelike. Thus the Kerr stationary-limit surface is generically timelike and is not a Killing horizon, despite there. For example its stationary null vector is not normal, since away from the axis. The actual outer Killing horizon is , generated by , with Kerr horizon angular velocity . The two surfaces meet on the axis, which does not make the entire stationary-limit surface null.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 56 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use a real free Klein-Gordon field on a prescribed four-dimensional globally hyperbolic spacetime, with signature and . A mass and curvature coupling give the quadratic actionand the field equation . Minimal coupling is ; for a massless scalar in four dimensions, conformal coupling is . Global hyperbolicity supplies a Cauchy hypersurface and a well-posed initial-value problem: suitable data on determine a unique solution. One assumes appropriate support or decay conditions so no unaccounted flux crosses spatial infinity. The geometry is classical here; quantum backreaction is a further problem.
The real solution space has the conserved symplectic form on scalar-field solutionsIts complexification defines the Klein-Gordon inner productThe divergence of its current is by the field equation, proving independence of the chosen Cauchy hypersurface. This Hermitian form is not positive definite on the whole complex solution space: conjugating a solution reverses its norm.
Choose a complete positive-norm mode space and basis satisfyingHere completeness means that every real solution expands in these modes and their conjugates. Equivalently, one chooses a compatible complex structure on the Klein-Gordon solution space; this is extra data, not fixed by the field equation. Quantization replaces the mode coefficients by annihilation operators and creation operators:In a foliation with induced metric determinant , the canonical momentum is . The normalized complete mode expansion implements the equal-time canonical commutation relations and vanishing field-field and momentum-momentum commutators on . Propagation by the field equation gives microcausality: field observables commute at spacelike separation. Thus there is a local quantum field theory before one has selected a particle interpretation.
The chosen positive-mode space completes to a one-particle Hilbert space . Its bosonic Fock space is . The Fock vacuum obeys ; acting with produces multiparticle states, and counts particles in mode . The vacuum two-point function is . The Hadamard condition restricts physically admissible states by prescribing their local short-distance singularity; it permits renormalization of the stress-energy tensor but does not select one unique vacuum.
The particle ambiguity is that there is generally no distinguished choice of positive-mode space. A second complete normalized basis can beThe Bogoliubov transformation preserves the mode normalization precisely whenIts operators obey . Consequently a state with no -particles generally has -particles if . A unitary change of basis within the same positive-mode space has and merely relabels modes; a change mixing the positive and negative subspaces changes the vacuum and particle notion. Arbitrary coordinates called “time” do not resolve this choice. This is the vacuum ambiguity in a nonstationary spacetime, while the field equation and local commutator remain unchanged.
In the standard stationary setting, a complete future-directed timelike Killing vector field generates a time-translation symmetry. With a stable positive energy operator and suitable boundary conditions, choose positive-frequency solutions byThe positive stationary Hamiltonian selects a particle splitting: positive spectral modes define annihilation operators, and the normal-ordered Hamiltonian is . Its ground state is the vacuum state in a stationary spacetime. The Killing symmetry transports this splitting unchanged, so no positive-negative mixing is induced by stationary evolution. Degeneracies allow unitary basis changes without changing the vacuum. Stationarity fixes the ground-state particle interpretation relative to this time flow; it does not forbid excited or thermal states.
The qualification is that asymptotic stationarity alone, in the sense used for a Kerr exterior, is insufficient for a global positive-energy construction: becomes spacelike in an ergoregion of a stationary spacetime. The usual unambiguous construction applies to a strictly stationary spacetime with the stated stability and spectral assumptions, or to appropriate stationary asymptotic regions for scattering. Zero modes or instability need separate treatment. Likewise different observer time flows on different regions need not define the same particles.
For particle creation by a nonstationary spacetime, choose normalized positive-frequency modes in the stationary early region and in the stationary late region. Propagate both sets by the Klein-Gordon equation through the intermediate time-dependent geometry. Compute their overlaps on any common Cauchy hypersurface:The initial in-vacuum has . Since , contracting the in operators yields the particle number from Bogoliubov coefficients:Thus the procedure is to fix asymptotic mode choices, solve the classical wave equation, project using the conserved inner product, and take squared negative-frequency overlaps. Particle energy comes from the time-dependent background, so particle creation does not contradict the linear deterministic field equation. For an initial state diagonal in in-mode occupation numbers , with no anomalous correlations, the more general expectation is .
For continuous spectra, sums become integrals and normalized wave packets avoid meaningless squares of delta functions. A finite total count requires the appropriate convergence of the double sum or integral. The bosonic mode mixing implementability condition is that be Hilbert-Schmidt; otherwise the two Fock representations need not be unitarily equivalent, even though the local field algebra and finite-mode particle calculations still make sense. This distinction between deterministic field evolution and a chosen representation is essential to quantum field theory in curved spacetime.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 58 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let a dot denote differentiation with respect to an affine geodesic parameter . The five-dimensional geodesic Lagrangian isBecause is cyclic, its Euler-Lagrange equation gives the conserved quantityThis is the conserved momentum per unit five-dimensional mass associated with the Killing vector field . For the other coordinates, differentiate . Using givesThe first two terms combine into , with the Christoffel symbols of . Define the four-dimensional electromagnetic field tensor and raise its index with . The complete reduced geodesic equations areThis is the Kaluza-Klein geodesic Lorentz force. The Christoffel symbols describe the gravitational motion in general relativity in the four-dimensional metric tensor, while the right-hand side is antisymmetric in its lowered indices and gives the relativistic Lorentz force. In particular,Thus the force preserves the four-dimensional velocity norm, as a Lorentz force must. A particle with is neutral and follows an ordinary four-dimensional geodesic. Nonzero compact momentum gives electric charge, with its sign determined by the direction of motion around the circle.
To identify the actual charge-to-mass ratio, suppose the five-dimensional particle has mass and is its five-dimensional proper time, so . Then . Four-dimensional proper time obeys ; since is constant, satisfiesHere is in the geometric normalization of the supplied potential . The relation also follows directly from the five-dimensional mass shell, and continues to identify the effective mass when the higher-dimensional particle is massless. The distinction between the two proper times prevents mistaking itself for the physical four-dimensional charge-to-mass ratio. A rescaling of to a canonically normalized electromagnetic potential correspondingly rescales .
For the wave calculation, take a scalar field of five-dimensional mass in units , obeying . In the coordinate order , direct inversion of the metric tensor givesThe determinant follows by the triangular change of coframe from to , whose determinant is one. Write . Since all coefficients are -independent, the scalar covariant wave operator isExpanding the right-hand side verifies both cross terms , the term , and the coefficient of .
Single-valuedness under the compact coordinate period requires the Fourier seriesFor the th Kaluza-Klein mode, put and . The five-dimensional Klein-Gordon equation reduces toThis is the charged four-dimensional Klein-Gordon equation: the divergence expression includes both the spacetime connection and the gauge connection. Its interpretation as electric charge can also be checked directly. Under the fibre coordinate change , the metric retains its form with , and the scalar Fourier coefficient changes by . Hence , exactly the transformation law for a field of charge .
The Kaluza-Klein charge quantization is thereforePositive and negative integers give opposite charges, and the zero mode is neutral. Restoring gives compact momenta , so their fundamental spacing is . These are charges in the metric's geometric normalization. If for a physically normalized electromagnetic potential , the physical charge unit is in natural units, or with restored. Determining requires an electromagnetic action normalization not specified by the metric ansatz alone.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 60 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
On a bosonic background, a Killing spinor is a nonzero spinor parameter that makes all fermionic supersymmetry variations vanish. It identifies an unbroken supersymmetry of the background; the number of independent solutions counts preserved supercharges. In simple ungauged minimal four-dimensional supergravity, with the gravitino set to zero, its equation is and the bosonic field equations are . In theories with additional fields or a cosmological deformation, the Killing-spinor equation instead uses the corresponding modified connection.
Use commuting spinors to form ordinary geometric bilinears, and orient the Dirac current to the future with in mostly-plus signature. Since the spinor and gamma matrices are parallel,Thus is actually parallel, and in particular is a Killing vector field. In a local orthonormal frame,For every spatial unit vector , is Hermitian and squares to one. Its eigenvalues are , so . Taking along the spatial current givesA nonzero parallel spinor cannot vanish at an isolated point, so this causal Dirac current is nonzero everywhere on a connected solution. Its squared norm is constant: it cannot alternate between timelike and null regions.
If is timelike, normalize its constant norm. Its parallel dual one-form is closed, and its orthogonal distribution is integrable. Adapted local coordinates put the metric in the product formThe time independence follows because is Killing, and the unit lapse and zero cross terms follow from parallelism. The vacuum equations give . In three dimensions the Riemann tensor is completely determined by the Ricci tensor and its scalar contraction, so is flat. ThereforeConstant spinors in its flat frame provide all local Killing spinors. Global identifications are possible only when they preserve a compatible spin structure and the required spinors.
If is null, its parallelism first gives a Brinkmann coordinate system with . The parallel-spinor condition further restricts the local spin holonomy to the stabilizer of that spinor. In four dimensions, for a nonzero Weyl component represented by , its stabilizer in is the upper-triangular group , : the two real null rotations, with no transverse rotation. Consequently the transverse frame is flat and the allowed curvature is of the wave type . Using the coordinate freedom to remove transverse cross terms gives the local plane-fronted gravitational wave formHere and the only potentially nonzero Ricci component is , so the last equation is exactly the vacuum equation. Conversely, in the coframe , , , the nonzero spin-connection matrices are proportional to . Constant spinors with are therefore parallel. Every harmonic transverse profile, with arbitrary dependence, gives such a supersymmetric vacuum wave; the flat profile is included. This verifies both the form and sufficiency in the parallel-spinor classification of vacuum four-geometries.
There is a reality-condition subtlety in interpreting the branches. A single commuting four-dimensional Majorana spinor has a null current of a commuting Majorana spinor: its two-component representation gives . A timelike current can instead come from a Dirac Killing spinor or a sum of independent real-spinor currents. The conditional timelike classification above remains valid, but does not assert a generic timelike current for a single real Majorana parameter.
For the final question use constant sectional curvature , so . The spinor curvature identity givesDefine the Anti-de Sitter Killing-spinor connection . Since and the connection is torsion-free,Thus the modified connection is flat. On a simply connected region, transport any initial spinor with this connection; flatness makes the result path independent and supplies actual nonzero solutions, not merely a necessary integrability condition. Hencehas a full local space of solutions on Anti-de Sitter spacetime, and globally on its universal cover. Global quotients require compatible spinor monodromy. These are Killing spinors of the cosmological deformation, not parallel-spinor vacua of the undeformed zero-cosmological-constant theory.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 52 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
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 1 a iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
In Cartesian coordinates , , , the rotational Killing vector field and its dual differential one-form areTherefore the Papapetrou electromagnetic field isChoose the electromagnetic field convention and . There are no time components, and , so this is a uniform magnetic field along the rotation axis, with no electric field:Multiplying the Killing vector field by produces any desired uniform magnetic field strength .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 54 1 a i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use signature and the Riemann curvature tensor convention . Lower the index of the Killing vector field and set . Differentiating the Killing equation gives , while the Ricci identity givesDefine . The first-pair antisymmetry of the Riemann curvature tensor gives . The pair symmetry and the first Bianchi identity giveThus is symmetric in its first two indices and antisymmetric in its last two. These two symmetries force it to vanish:Consequently . Raising using metric compatibility proves the required second covariant derivative of a Killing vector:
