Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 60 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a scalar, the Lie derivative of a function is its directional derivative:The Lie derivative of a vector field is their Lie bracket of vector fields:For a torsion-free connection,The last term vanishes because the connection coefficients are symmetric in . This proves .
For the metric tensor statements use the Levi-Civita connection, which also has metric compatibility. The tensor derivation property of the Lie derivative of a tensor field givesExpanding the first term using and using the vector identity cancels the derivatives of and . What remains isSince are arbitrary, the Killing equation isMetric compatibility is needed here, even though symmetry alone sufficed for the vector identity. In general the Lie derivative of a metric with nonmetricity contains a term . For example, with the metric tensor , zero connection coefficients and , the Lie derivative of a tensor field is , whereas . The usual metric connection interpretation of the question supplies the required compatibility.
For the Riemann curvature tensor calculation, keep the original PDF's convention. With and , it meansThus the commutator on a covector has the opposite sign. Write . Taking a covariant derivative of the Killing equation makes antisymmetric in its first two indices, while the Ricci identity givesCombining this with the first-two-index antisymmetry gives the three relationsAdd the first and third and subtract the second. Pair symmetry and the first Bianchi identity imply . ConsequentlyThis is the second covariant derivative of a Killing vector in the paper's convention; its sign is tied to the declared curvature-sign convention in Killing derivative identities, not to raising a particular index.
Set . Along any smooth curve with tangent vector , the chain rule and the just-proved identity give the Killing transport equationsChoose a parallel-propagated orthonormal frame along the curve. These become a homogeneous linear system of ordinary differential equations for the components of . Uniqueness of its initial value problem implies that zero initial data remain zero. Any point in the same connected component as can be joined to by a piecewise smooth curve. Therefore zero value and zero first derivative at force the Killing field and its derivative to vanish throughout that component, with no completeness assumption. On a manifold with one connected component this is the requested global result. Connectedness cannot be dropped: on two disjoint flat spacetimes, take the zero field on one and a nonzero translation on the other.
On a pseudo-Riemannian manifold of dimension with one connected component, the map is therefore injective. There are independent components of the value and of its antisymmetric derivative. The dimension bound for Killing vector fields isIt is attained in flat space by with constant antisymmetric , giving translations and infinitesimal rotations or Lorentz transformations. The four-dimensional maximum is 10. For a disconnected manifold the bound applies componentwise; there is no uniform global bound depending only on if the number of components is unrestricted.