Existence and uniqueness of the Levi-Civita connection Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The Koszul formula uniquely determines for all vector fields , so nondegeneracy of the Riemannian metric determines . The resulting operation is -linear in , obeys the Leibniz rule in , is compatible with the metric, and is torsion-free. It is therefore the unique Levi-Civita connection.
Fundamental theorem of Riemannian geometry Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
A Riemannian metric determines a unique torsion-free connection that is a metric connection. Metric compatibility and the torsion identity imply the Koszul formula, which proves uniqueness. Conversely the right-hand side of the Koszul formula is a smooth one-form in its last vector-field argument. The musical isomorphism defines from it; expanding the Lie bracket of vector fields verifies the connection rules, metric compatibility and zero torsion. Thus it constructs the Levi-Civita connection intrinsically.
Geodesic-vector criterion for a left-invariant metric Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-05
For a left-invariant metric on a Lie group, the one-parameter subgroup is a geodesic exactly whenfor every in the Lie algebra. The Koszul formula gives .
Killing-form Einstein metric 2026-10-14
On a real semisimple Lie group, the nondegenerate invariant Killing form gives a bi-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metric. For left-invariant fields the Koszul formula gives and . Taking the trace gives , proving the Einstein property. On a compact semisimple group, is positive definite and has Einstein constant . The indefinite general construction is not a proof of existence of a positive-definite bi-invariant metric on a noncompact group.
For left-invariant vector fields, the Koszul formula and the adjoint invariance of a bi-invariant Riemannian metric give the displayed Levi-Civita connection. In particular .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 68 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
An affine connection on the tangent bundle of a smooth manifold assigns a vector field to two vector fields, is -bilinear, and satisfiesThus its first slot is tensorial and its second obeys the Leibniz rule. Its action on covectors is defined by differentiating the pairing, and this extends it to tensor fields. A torsion-free connection has .
Assume that is a smooth nondegenerate metric tensor. Metric compatibility and a vanishing torsion tensor imply the Koszul formula,The right-hand side is determined by and the Lie bracket of vector fields. Nondegeneracy determines uniquely; conversely this formula defines an affine connection with both required properties, proving existence as well as uniqueness. In a coordinate frame the brackets vanish. Combining the three differentiated metric tensor identities givesThis is the Levi-Civita connection. Positive definiteness is unnecessary: the argument also works for a pseudo-Riemannian metric.
For the other affine connection define . The derivative of cancels between the two Leibniz rules, so is -linear in both slots. The difference of affine connections is a tensor: here is a section of with components . Both affine connections are torsion-free, so .
Agreement of geodesics means agreement of their unparametrized curves; different affine parameters are allowed. For every nonzero tangent vector , existence of a geodesic with that initial velocity implies that is parallel to . The symmetric bilinear diagonal-parallel lemma now determines . Choose a basis and write . Applying the parallelism condition to and givesWith , bilinearity yieldsThis is projective equivalence of affine connections. It also covers dimension one. For two Levi-Civita connections, the projective covector from metric volume densities gives the explicit answerIndeed . The determinant ratio is a scalar, so this expression is a genuine covector, although either determinant alone is coordinate-dependent. This determinant expression requires nondegeneracy of ; the difference-tensor and earlier trace formula require only the two torsion-free affine connections.
Conversely, the displayed tensor gives along an affinely parametrized -geodesic. Choosing a new parameter satisfying removes that tangential acceleration. This geodesic reparametrization under projective equivalence proves sufficiency. If agreement were required with the very same affine parameter, polarization would instead force and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 14 5 Solution 2026-10-14
A Riemannian metric is a smooth positive-definite symmetric inner product on every tangent space. A Levi-Civita connection is a connection on the tangent bundle which is torsion-free, , and metric-compatible,Apply this identity with the cyclic triples , and , add the first two and subtract the third, and replace differences of covariant derivatives by Lie brackets. The result is the Koszul formulaIts right side depends only on and the vector fields; nondegeneracy of determines uniquely. This proves uniqueness.
For existence, in a coordinate chart defineThis is linear over smooth functions in and obeys the Leibniz rule in . Symmetry proves zero torsion, and direct substitution giveswhich proves metric compatibility. On chart overlaps the two resulting connections satisfy the same intrinsic Koszul identity and therefore agree by uniqueness. They glue globally. Thus the existence and uniqueness of the Levi-Civita connection holds on every Riemannian manifold.
Fix the curvature conventionFor coordinate vectors , define the Riemann curvature tensor components by . In these indices the Ricci and scalar contractions areExplicitly, , whereThese expressions define Ricci curvature and scalar curvature without ambiguity about which indices are contracted. With this convention a round unit -sphere has and .
If with a constant real , tracing gives , so every Einstein metric has constant scalar curvature. The converse is not valid in arbitrary dimension. On with the product Riemannian metric of the unit round sphere and a circle, the connection splits between factors. The mixed curvatures and circle curvature vanish, while the sphere has curvature one. HenceA scalar multiple of the whole metric would require on the sphere directions and on the circle direction, which is impossible. This proves that constant scalar curvature does not imply an Einstein metric, and supplies a counterexample to the unrestricted requested equivalence.
In dimension two, the curvature tensor is determined by the Gaussian curvature :There the valid equivalence isIn dimension one both curvature and scalar curvature vanish identically. Without a two-dimensional restriction or another added geometric hypothesis, the general converse cannot be proved.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 74 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Define the raw Killing form byFor a finite-dimensional real or complex Lie algebra in characteristic zero, it is nondegenerate exactly when the algebra is a semisimple Lie algebra. For a real compact semisimple algebra it is negative definite. Consequently the positive compact Killing metric is : for example on with , and gives a Riemannian metric on . An overall minus sign in the term “Killing metric” is common here; raw trace itself is negative definite in this example.
For a Lorentzian metric use with , , . Direct traces givewhose metric signature is . For a non-Abelian degenerate example, the three-dimensional Heisenberg Lie algebra has central. Every product of two adjoint maps is zero, so .
For any adjoint-invariant nondegenerate metric on a Lie group, the Koszul formula on left-invariant fields simplifies toTake . The Jacobi identity givesTaking the trace of yieldsThus the metric is a Killing-form Einstein metric with Einstein constant . With the same connection has constant . This proves the Einstein manifold assertion for every semisimple group, including products when the unscaled Killing form is used on all factors.
There is also a different, flat metric-preserving connection. Declare the global left-invariant frame parallel:Its curvature is zero because applying two derivatives to coefficient functions and subtracting their commutator gives zero. Its metric derivative vanishes since is constant in this frame. Its torsion tensor on invariant fields isFor each fixed , antisymmetry gives , so this is the matrix of . The torsion contractions of a left-parallel Lie-group connection therefore areThe zero trace follows because a semisimple algebra is perfect: every element is a sum of brackets, and the adjoint of a bracket is a matrix commutator with zero trace. If the metric convention is , the second contraction is . These flat translation connections on a Lie group are not the torsion-free Levi-Civita connection; nonzero torsion permits flatness alongside the curved Killing metric.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 57 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be the Killing form. A real semisimple Lie algebra has nondegenerate , and its invariance gives . Translating defines a bi-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metric on the Lie group.
For left-invariant vector fields, all derivatives of their pairwise inner products vanish. The Koszul formula reduces toNondegeneracy gives . With , the Jacobi identity now givesTaking the trace of yields the Ricci tensorThus the Killing-form Einstein metric makes the group an Einstein manifold, allowing an indefinite metric. Its scalar curvature in this convention is .
For a connected compact semisimple Lie group, is negative definite: the adjoint operators are skew-adjoint for an invariant positive inner product, so for . The conventional positive Riemannian metric is instead . Its Ricci tensor is , and its sectional curvature isIt can vanish on commuting two-planes; positivity is not automatic in every direction. With the literal negative metric , the corresponding sectional-curvature signs are reversed.
For a noncompact real semisimple group, a Cartan decomposition has negative on and positive on . The Killing metric is indefinite and cannot be made positive by an overall sign. Its Einstein constant remains for , but that does not assert a uniform sign for sectional curvature of all nondegenerate planes. For connected semisimple groups, negative-definite characterizes the compact case. Disconnected groups require a separate condition on the number of components before compactness follows.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 14 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A Levi-Civita connection is a connection on the tangent bundle which is torsion-free and compatible with the Riemannian metric. Its defining identities areTo obtain uniqueness, write the metric identity for , and , add the first two and subtract the third, and use the torsion identity to interchange the derivatives. This gives the Koszul formulaThe metric is nondegenerate, so these inner products determine uniquely.
For existence, let denote the right-hand side. The bracket rules and give, by cancellation of all extra derivatives,Thus the nondegenerate metric defines a unique smooth vector field from , and these identities give the connection rules. In coordinates the construction readsThe coefficients are smooth and symmetric in , proving zero torsion. Substituting them giveswhich is exactly metric compatibility. Since the construction was given intrinsically by , the local formulas agree on overlaps. This proves existence and uniqueness of the Levi-Civita connection on every Riemannian manifold.
Define the Riemann curvature tensor byThe connection rules make this expression tensorial in all three arguments. To fix the component convention, throughout this solution useWith this convention, the unit sphere has and positive Ricci curvature. In a coordinate frame, the components are obtained fromThe algebraic curvature symmetries aretogether with the first Bianchi identityThe first antisymmetry follows from the definition. Metric compatibility gives , giving the second. Torsion-freeness reduces the cyclic sum to the Jacobi identity for Lie brackets of vector fields; pair interchange follows algebraically from these antisymmetries and the cyclic identity. These explain the identities rather than choosing unrelated sign conventions.
Define the Ricci curvature by the tensor contractionThis is a bilinear form, since is tensorial and trace is linear. At a point choose an orthonormal basis. Pair interchange givesso Ricci curvature is symmetric.
For the final determination in dimension three, an algebraic curvature tensor is determined by its entries in the three unordered index pairs : antisymmetry removes repeated indices, and pair interchange makes the resulting array symmetric. It therefore has at most six independent entries. WriteThe diagonal Ricci components giveso, for example, , and the other two follow cyclically. The three off-diagonal entries are also recovered explicitly:Thus every independent curvature entry is determined by Ricci; this proves injectivity, not merely a dimension count.
An invariant formula making the reconstruction explicit is, with ,To verify it, the right-hand side has the two antisymmetries, pair interchange and the cyclic identity by symmetry of and Ricci. Contracting its first and third indices in dimension three givesSubtract it from the original tensor. The difference has zero Ricci contraction, and the six recovered-entry formulas above force it to vanish. This completes the proof of three-dimensional curvature from the Ricci tensor in arbitrary coordinates.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 58 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For the Lie algebra of a Lie group , let . The Killing form is the symmetric bilinear formFor a finite-dimensional real Lie algebra, the Cartan criterion for semisimplicity says that is nondegenerate precisely when is a semisimple Lie algebra. Thus a semisimple Lie group supplies the required condition. Compactness alone is insufficient: an abelian Lie algebra, including that of a torus, has zero Killing form.
The Jacobi identity gives . Cyclic invariance of the trace therefore givesThere is also invariance under the full Adjoint representation of a Lie group: , so .
Define a pseudo-Riemannian metric by translating from the identity:It is smooth and nondegenerate. Left translations preserve it by construction. Right translation, expressed in left-translated tangent coordinates, acts by , so it also preserves the metric. This constructs a bi-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metric.
For left-invariant vector fields, the derivative terms in the Koszul formula vanish. Invariance of then givesUse the Riemann curvature tensor convention . Substituting the Levi-Civita connection and using the Jacobi identity yieldsThe Ricci tensor is the trace of . Since , it follows thatThis is the Killing-form Einstein metric. Rescaling to , with nonzero constant , gives Einstein metric constant .
For a compact semisimple Lie group, is negative definite and is a positive-definite bi-invariant Riemannian metric. For example, has topology and metric signature for , while has the same Lie algebra and metric signature, but topology . The special linear group has metric signature and topology ; its universal covering Lie group has topology and the same Killing form. The real Lie algebra of has metric signature , and the group has topology . Thus the Killing form distinguishes compact from noncompact directions in these semisimple examples, but does not determine global topology or distinguish different covering groups.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 15 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be the ambient Levi-Civita connection and the one for the induced metric on . The Gauss formula iswhere the second fundamental form is normal. The tangential part of is metric-compatible and torsion-free, so the existence and uniqueness of the Levi-Civita connection identifies it with .
For a normal field , the Weingarten formula defines the shape operator in a normal direction and the normal connection byDifferentiate using metric compatibility to getThe symmetry of the second fundamental form follows from the ambient torsion-free condition:since the Lie bracket of vector fields tangent to is tangent. Thereforeso every normal-direction shape operator is self-adjoint.
The paper uses , so use the Gauss equation with reversed curvature convention. Applying the Gauss formula and Weingarten formula twice givesSubtracting in the stated curvature order yieldsPair with a tangent field and use the defining relation for the shape operator in a normal direction:This is the Gauss equation in the supplied sign convention. If one defines curvature by instead, the two quadratic terms have the opposite signs.
For an orthonormal frame on a surface, positive Gaussian curvature with the convention here is . If the ambient space is Euclidean and is a unit normal, the equation becomesThe Koszul formula determines from the induced metric, and hence determines its Riemann curvature tensor and . Therefore the Gaussian curvature depends only on that metric, even though its expression as a product of principal curvatures appears extrinsic. This is Theorema Egregium.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 64 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A principal bundle with structure group has a smooth free right -action, each fibre is a single orbit, and it is locally equivariantly isomorphic to . A representation defines the associated vector bundleLocal sections of identify with , and changes of section act by on the fibre coordinates.
A principal bundle is trivial if and only if it has a global smooth section. Given , the map is an equivariant isomorphism : freeness and transitivity give its unique inverse on each fibre, and local trivializations make that inverse smooth. Conversely a product bundle has section . This proves principal bundle trivialization by a global section. A contractible paracompact base is a sufficient condition for triviality of such a bundle; local sections alone are insufficient on a general base.
A manifold is parallelizable when its tangent bundle is trivial, equivalently when it possesses a global smooth frame. The circle is an example, with its nowhere-vanishing unit tangent field. The sphere is another: regard it as the unit quaternions. At a unit quaternion , the three tangent vectors are independent and smoothly depend on . Quaternion multiplication preserves the norm, so these form an orthonormal frame. This gives the quaternionic left-invariant frame on the three-sphere.
For any Lie group of dimension , choose a basis of . Left translations defineThese fields are smooth; at every , the differential of the diffeomorphism is invertible, so they are a basis of . Hence every Lie group manifold is parallelizable, as in parallelization of a Lie group by left translations.
For a real semisimple Lie group, let be the Killing form. It is nondegenerate and invariant under the adjoint action. Left translating gives a bi-invariant pseudo-Riemannian metric. For left-invariant fields, the Koszul formula reduces toThus . The curvature convention of Question 1 givesTo obtain the Ricci tensor, trace the linear map . Since ,This proves the Killing-form Einstein metric construction for every real semisimple group. If is compact semisimple, is positive definite and its Ricci tensor is , giving a Riemannian Einstein metric. For a noncompact semisimple group the general Killing-form construction is indefinite. Thus the unrestricted assertion is understood in the pseudo-Riemannian sense appropriate here; positive definiteness is not obtained by simply taking in the noncompact case.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 22 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The musical isomorphisms are the pointwise maps induced by the Riemannian metric:In local coordinates they are and . The inverse metric makes these inverse bundle maps, hence inverse maps between smooth vector fields and smooth differential one-forms.
For a covariant two-tensor , its metric trace is in a Riemannian orthonormal frame. The contraction is independent of the chosen frame. There is a terminology distinction here: if is literally an alternating differential two-form, this trace is zero. The object needed below is the covariant two-tensor , generally not alternating. Interpreting that tensor as an alternating form would make the stated divergence construction impossible.
Let be the Levi-Civita connection. The Riemannian gradient, divergence and positive Laplace-Beltrami operator areThus , and in coordinatesThis choice makes the Laplacian eigenvalues nonnegative on a closed Riemannian manifold. The alternative convention reverses all eigenvalue signs, but none of the comparisons below.
For the Riemannian submersion, let and choose orthonormal horizontal lifts of a base frame and an orthonormal vertical frame . The horizontal part of projects to the base Levi-Civita connection; this follows directly from its Koszul formula applied to basic horizontal fields, because their inner products and projected brackets are pulled back from the base. Therefore the horizontal trace of the Riemannian Hessian of is the pulled-back base Hessian trace. Since , its vertical terms areWriting for the unnormalised fibre mean curvature vector givesThe totally geodesic submanifold condition on the fibres makes . Consequently eigenfunction pullback by a Riemannian submersion givesHere the Riemannian submersion is onto, so the map is injective. Its image is exactly the members of the upstairs eigenspace constant on each whole fibre: such a function descends smoothly by local sections of the submersion, and the displayed identity forces the descended function to have the same eigenvalue. In particular, whenever these eigenspaces are finite dimensional, the downstairs multiplicity is no larger than the upstairs multiplicity. The upstairs eigenspace may also contain functions varying along fibres.
A flat torus is with the metric induced by the Euclidean metric, where is a full-rank Euclidean lattice. Its dual lattice is . The characters descend to the quotient and form an orthogonal Fourier basis of on it. Direct differentiation gives the spectrum of a flat torus:with multiplicity equal to the number of dual lattice vectors of each length. In particular zero has multiplicity one.
Let the given four-dimensional isospectral manifolds be and . For , take their products with the same circles of length , equivalently the lattices . The dual lattices are , so their Laplacian eigenvalues areThe given equality of base spectra with multiplicities makes these product spectra identical.
Choose smaller than the shortest nonzero vector length in either original Euclidean lattice. By short-vector cancellation for flat tori, the shortest nonzero vectors in the product lattice are exactly in its new factor. To spell out the nonisometry argument, any isometry of the product flat tori lifts to an isometry of their universal Euclidean covers. This is affine, and its orthogonal linear part maps one product lattice onto the other. It must map the span of their shortest vectors, namely the new -dimensional factor, onto itself; orthogonality then preserves the original four-dimensional factor and maps onto . That would give an isometry of the original flat tori, contrary to the assumption. Isospectral nonisometric flat tori therefore exist in every dimension .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 17 5 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The Levi-Civita connection is the unique connection on a vector bundle that is torsion-free and metric-compatible. These conditions areExistence and uniqueness follow from the Koszul formula; equivalently, these are the defining properties that characterize the connection.
Define the correction tensorand set . All terms of are -linear in both and , so is a connection. The symmetry preserves vanishing of the torsion tensor.
To check compatibility with , computeOn the other hand,The cross terms cancel, so their sum is . Multiplying by proves . Hence is torsion-free and compatible with , so uniqueness of the Levi-Civita connection givesThis is the Levi-Civita connection under conformal rescaling.
On a nonempty compact manifold without boundary, attains a maximum at some . The derivative of a smooth function vanishes at an interior extremum, so and . The correction tensor therefore vanishes at , givingThis is equality for all vector fields at the same point, not an assertion that either connection vanishes there. More generally, the two connections agree at any critical point of . Conversely, if their correction vanishes for all at a point of positive dimension, evaluating for every shows that the point is critical. This is the critical-point criterion for equal conformal connections.
The boundaryless hypothesis is the usual convention for “manifold” here. If manifolds with boundary were included, compactness alone would not suffice: on with and , one has everywhere while . An extremum at the boundary need not be a critical point.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 15 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Combining metric compatibility with the torsion-free condition forces the Koszul formula:Nondegeneracy of proves uniqueness of the Levi-Civita connection. For existence, use the right side to define . Expanding brackets shows that this expression is -linear in , so it defines a smooth one-form; the musical isomorphism gives the required vector field. The same expansion shows , additivity, and , establishing the connection rules. Subtracting the formulas with exchanged gives . Adding the formulas pairing with and with gives metric compatibility. Thus this construction has both required properties.
In coordinate vector fields the brackets vanish. Consequently the Christoffel symbols and coordinate derivative areRepeated indices are summed. The displayed connection type in the source is best understood in its standard form on two vector fields; if the first input is an individual tangent vector at a point, the output lies in the tangent fiber at that point rather than in the space of global sections.
For the parallel metrics with a common Levi-Civita connection, let be a piecewise smooth path from the point of equality to any . Connected smooth manifolds admit such paths because coordinate balls are path connected. Parallel transport for the common connection is invertible and preserves both metrics. ThereforeEvery pair of tangent vectors at arises this way, so everywhere.
Dropping the agreement at one point removes the conclusion. For any constant , has the same Christoffel symbols. Nor must the two metrics be proportional: on , , the constant metrics and both have zero connection coefficients. In general write . Since both metrics are parallel, , so . Conversely, a positive -self-adjoint parallel makes the same torsion-free connection compatible with , proving equality of their Levi-Civita connections. Thus one-point agreement specifies and forces it everywhere; without it, nontrivial parallel choices can remain.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 16 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the positive Laplace-Beltrami operator . A Riemannian submersion is a surjective smooth submersion for which, at every , the restriction of to is a linear isometry onto . The spaces and are its vertical and horizontal spaces. Its fibres are totally geodesic submanifolds precisely when is vertical for vertical vector fields : their second fundamental form vanishes. Equivalently, a geodesic initially tangent to a fibre remains in that fibre while defined.
For a smooth , its basic function is constant along each fibre. The Riemannian gradient of is the horizontal lift of a vector field through a submersion of , sincefor horizontal , and for vertical . In particular no derivative of in a vertical direction occurs.
Here is the needed connection fact, which also follows directly from the Koszul formula: for horizontal lifts of vector fields on , the horizontal component of projects to . To see this, pair the Koszul formula with a third horizontal lift . The horizontal inner products are pulled back from , and the horizontal components of their Lie brackets of vector fields project to the brackets on . Thus all six terms are the pullbacks of the corresponding terms on .
Choose an adapted Riemannian orthonormal frame , with the horizontal lifts. Using , the connection fact givesFor a vertical , both and , the latter because the fibres are totally geodesic submanifolds. Taking the negative metric trace of the Riemannian Hessian therefore proves the basic-function Laplacian identityThis identity is local and does not require compactness. Vanishing mean curvature of the fibres would already suffice; total geodesicity makes each vertical summand vanish separately.
For the discrete eigenspace assertion, assume the two Riemannian manifolds are closed manifolds. Without a discrete spectral realization, an unrestricted noncompact version need not have an eigenbasis. The projections of the Riemannian product are Riemannian submersions with totally geodesic submanifolds as fibres. Its Levi-Civita connection splits into the two factor connections. Consequently its positive Laplace-Beltrami operator isThe cross term in the product rule for the positive Laplace-Beltrami operator is zero because the two factor Riemannian gradients are orthogonal.
We use the standard compact elliptic compact elliptic spectral theorem: the positive Laplace-Beltrami operator on a closed manifold is self-adjoint, has compact resolvent, and has a complete orthonormal eigenbasis of smooth eigenfunctions, with finite-dimensional eigenspaces and eigenvalues tending to infinity. Let and . Fubini's theorem and completeness on each factor show that form a complete orthonormal basis of . For example, a function orthogonal to all these products has, for each , zero -coefficient as an function, hence is zero.
The displayed operator identity makes an eigenfunction with eigenvalue . Conversely, if , self-adjointness of the positive Laplace-Beltrami operator givesAll other coefficients vanish. Only finitely many pairs can have , since both spectra are nonnegative and have finitely many eigenvalues below any fixed bound. Thus the product Laplacian eigenspace decomposition isThe tensor product summands are mutually orthogonal; their elements are actual smooth eigenfunctions, so this is an equality of eigenspaces, not just a formal expansion.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 15 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A Levi-Civita connection on a Riemannian manifold is a covariant derivative that is a torsion-free connection, , and a metric connection, . A covariant derivative is -linear in , real linear in , and obeys .
Combining metric compatibility for the cyclic triples and eliminating reversed derivatives with the torsion identity gives the Koszul formulaSince is nondegenerate, this determines uniquely. For existence, use the right-hand side to define : expansion of the Lie bracket of vector fields shows it is -linear in , hence defines a smooth one-form, which the musical isomorphism converts to a smooth vector field. The same expansion shows and . Subtracting the formula with exchanged gives torsion zero; adding its versions for exchanged gives metric compatibility. Thus it is a Levi-Civita connection. Equivalently its coefficients in a manifold chart are the Christoffel symbolsThe intrinsically defined Koszul formula ensures these local expressions fit together. This proves the fundamental theorem of Riemannian geometry.
The product Riemannian metric on isThe two factor tangent spaces are orthogonal, and the sum is positive definite. Lift from and from . We check against lifted local frame fields from both factors, which together span each product tangent space.
If is lifted from , then , while depends only on , so . Also and is horizontal, hence orthogonal to . Every term in the Koszul formula is zero. If is lifted from , and depends only on , so . Now and is vertical, hence orthogonal to . Again every term is zero. Thus is orthogonal to both spanning frame families, and positive definiteness yieldsThis calculation uses the lifts' independence of the other factor coordinates; a vector field with varying coefficients in those coordinates can have a nonzero mixed derivative.