Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 69 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The mass statement needs a nonzero parallel spinor and an isolated asymptotically flat spacetime; the zero spinor solves the equation on every geometry and cannot imply anything about mass. Assume the usual complete regular spin initial data and dominant energy condition used by the positive energy theorem, with the spinor tending to a nonzero constant at infinity. Let be its future causal Dirac current.
The Nester two-form can be written, up to normalization, asIt is bilinear in and . For a spacetime-parallel spinor it vanishes identically, and hence so does its asymptotic flux. The ADM boundary term of the Nester two-form identifies that flux, up to a fixed positive normalization, asThe positive energy theorem gives . Since is nonzero future causal, a future timelike ADM momentum would have strictly positive contraction with it. Consequently the ADM momentum is zero or null:In a rest frame, when one exists, this immediately says . The usual regular asymptotically flat rigidity conclusion also excludes a nontrivial null-momentum configuration and gives flat initial data. This is the spinorial boundary-charge proof, not an inference that every Lorentzian manifold with a parallel spinor is flat. Without the asymptotic and global hypotheses the local spinor equation alone does not define, let alone determine, an ADM mass.
For the modified connection, it is important to fix the Clifford algebra normalization. WriteThe compatible spinor curvature identity isIndeed, rescaling conventional gamma matrices by rescales by , while leaving the geometric spin connection unchanged. Since the connection is torsion-free and , the cross terms cancel in the modified commutator:Thus the Killing-spinor integrability with rescaled gamma matrices equation isA factor of two in the convention for antisymmetrization multiplies the whole zero equation and cannot change this relative coefficient.
The two printed coefficients are consistent with , namely . In that convention the displayed integrability equation becomes on each solution. With the customary convention , the coefficient is instead , and the final Ricci coefficient below is . The PDF does not state its Clifford normalization, so these alternatives must be distinguished rather than mixing them.
In four spacetime dimensions the complex Dirac spinor fibre has dimension four. Four independent solutions of span that fibre at every point: a solution vanishing at one point vanishes everywhere by parallel transport. Therefore the integrability matrix annihilates every spinor and is the zero matrix. The six bivector matrices are linearly independent, as is seen by taking traces against them; their trace pairing is a nondegenerate multiple of the metric on two-forms. Expressing therefore givesThis proves that maximal Killing spinors force constant negative curvature, not merely an Einstein Ricci tensor. Contracting in four dimensions givesFor this is the requested Einstein equation. Since , its Ricci tensor automatically has rank four; under the maximal-spinor hypothesis the additional rank assumption is redundant. If the stated four-dimensional solution space is interpreted directly as the pointwise kernel of the algebraic integrability equation, the same spanning and trace argument applies.