Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 2 7C b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Integrate the axial ordinary differential equation twice: . The no-slip boundary condition at zero gives , and the one at gives . HenceThe first term is Couette flow; the second is Poiseuille flow driven in positive when . Their addition is valid because the reduced Stokes equation is linear.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 102 6 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A smooth vector field on a smooth manifold is a smooth section of the tangent bundle: it assigns to each , smoothly in local coordinates. In a coordinate chart it has the form , with smooth coefficients . Equivalently, it acts on smooth functions as a derivation, .
For a Lie group , write for Left translation on a Lie group. A left-invariant vector field satisfiesThus it is determined by its value at the identity. Given the printed , first translate it to the identity:The unique left-invariant vector field with value at isThe smoothness of multiplication makes this a smooth vector field, the chain rule proves left invariance, and setting gives .
We prove the completeness of left-invariant vector fields: this left-invariant vector field is a complete vector field. The Picard-Lindelof theorem, applied in a local chart, gives a unique local integral curve of a vector field through . For every , the curve is an integral curve of a vector field through , becauseCrucially, the same interval works for every initial point.
Let be the maximal integral curve of a vector field through , with maximal interval . If , choose with . The curveexists on and agrees with on the overlap by uniqueness of the local ordinary differential equation. It extends past , a contradiction. The same argument at a finite excludes that possibility. Thus , and uniqueness on overlapping intervals gives uniqueness on all of .
After establishing completeness, uniqueness also gives the one-parameter subgroup law for the global curve through :Both sides, as curves in , are integral curves of a vector field through at . Defining the Exponential map of a Lie group by , the answer is
The identity component is an open normal subgroup, and every open identity neighbourhood generates it. Let be the connected component of . The product of connected spaces is connected, so the image of under multiplication is connected and contains . It is therefore contained in . Inversion has the same property. Thus is a subgroup.
A smooth manifold is locally connected. In particular, a coordinate neighbourhood of can be chosen homeomorphic to an open ball, so there is a connected open neighbourhood of contained in . Its translates , , are open and lie in , and cover . Therefore the identity component of a Lie group is open in . Conjugation by any is a homeomorphism fixing , so it maps into itself; conjugation by gives the reverse inclusion. Hence is a normal subgroup.
If is an open neighbourhood of in , let , allowing inverses in the meaning of generated subgroup. For each , is open and lies in , so is open in . Every other left coset of is also open. Thus is both open and closed in the connected space . It is nonempty, so .
A quadratic form on is a function for a symmetric bilinear form . Equivalently, and the polarizationis a bilinear map. In coordinates there is a unique real symmetric matrix with . No assumption of nondegeneracy or positive definiteness is needed.
An element stabilizes when for every . By the polarization identity, this is equivalent to preserving , or in coordinates toThis is a closed Matrix Lie group. The Lie algebra of a quadratic-form stabilizer isTo prove necessity, differentiate along any smooth curve in with , . The derivative at zero is .
To prove sufficiency, suppose and consider the matrix exponential . ThenIts value at zero is , so for every real . This curve has derivative at zero, proving the claimed tangent space description even for a degenerate quadratic form.
Equivalently, the condition is for all . For a nondegenerate quadratic form it is the corresponding Special orthogonal Lie algebra. To see the degenerate case explicitly, choose a basis withWriting , the condition becomeswhile are arbitrary. Thus the nullspace of the quadratic form is invariant, but arbitrary infinitesimal maps into it are allowed. When , the formula correctly gives and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 116 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Along the downward gradient flow, the gradient-flow dissipation identity, the chain rule and the defining property of the Riemannian gradient giveA smooth vector field on a compact manifold is complete, so the trajectory exists for every . In particular, its function value never increases.
If the trajectory is still in at time , its monotone function value has stayed in throughout . ConsequentlyThus a uniform exit bound isThe trajectory is outside the closed band for every . Once it leaves below level , monotonicity prevents its return. The argument also covers the zero-width band .
For the total occupation-time bound for a gradient flow, let and , which exist by compactness. For every , the same gradient flow identity givesTaking , by monotone convergence theorem, gives the total occupation-time boundThis allows arbitrarily many visits to ; it bounds their total duration. Neither of these two estimates needs the Morse function hypothesis.
For exponential convergence of a Morse gradient flow, first observe that a limiting point is a critical point. Indeed, writing for the flow and using continuous dependence on initial data,Differentiation at gives .
We use the Morse lemma: near a nondegenerate critical point of Morse index , there are coordinates in whichChoose a Riemannian metric equal to the Euclidean metric on a smaller ball in these coordinates. Such a global Riemannian metric exists by a partition of unity: patch this metric to any background metric outside a slightly larger ball. One can do this simultaneously at every critical point, since a Morse function on a compact manifold has only finitely many critical points. The metric is chosen before forming its gradient flow; changing the metric can change trajectories.
For this metric, any trajectory converging to eventually remains in the smaller coordinate ball. From some time onward its equations are exactlyConvergence forces , and thenThe straight radial segment stays in the coordinate ball, so its length bounds the Riemannian distance from above:Increase beyond both and . Then the requested strict estimate holds for all :This proof uses the Morse lemma, existence and uniqueness for smooth ordinary differential equations, continuous dependence on initial data, and the existence of a partition of unity. The expanding coordinates explain why convergence to a saddle occurs only along its stable manifold.
For a counterexample, use an arc coordinate around a point of the circle, its flat local metric, and a globally smooth function that equals on this arc. Such a function can be made by a smooth cutoff, agreeing with a positive constant outside a larger arc. For sufficiently small the downward gradient flow remains in the arc and isIt converges to the degenerate critical point , and its Riemannian distance from is for sufficiently large . For every , , so no exponential bound is possible. This counterexample is on a compact manifold as well.
Exponential decay near a Morse minimum and algebraic decay near a degenerate quartic minimum, on a logarithmic vertical scale
. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 116 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the Riemann curvature tensor convention . A Jacobi field is a smooth vector field along satisfyingwhere is the covariant derivative along a curve for the Levi-Civita connection. Differentiating a geodesic variation gives this equation, and conversely every Jacobi field arises from a geodesic variation by varying its initial point and velocity.
Choose a parallel frame along and write . The Jacobi equation becomes the linear systemThe existence and uniqueness theorem for linear ordinary differential equations says that each pair determines exactly one solution on . Addition and scalar multiplication preserve the equation. Thus evaluation of initial position and covariant velocity is a linear isomorphismand the dimension is
For the convexity assertion, use the convex-normal meaning of a geodesically convex open set: its points are joined by a unique geodesic within the set, and the joining geodesic depends smoothly on its endpoints. Equivalently, the appropriate star-shaped restriction of is a diffeomorphism onto the set. The convex-normal-neighbourhood theorem supplies such sets around every point. Mere existence of some minimizing geodesic, without this uniqueness and normality, would not imply the assertion.
Let and . For a Jacobi field with and , differentiating gives the standard differential-of-the-exponential map identityIn a convex normal neighbourhood, is invertible. Therefore a Jacobi field vanishing at both endpoints has and hence is identically zero. The difference of two fields with the same endpoint values consequently vanishes. More precisely, the mapis an isomorphism: it is injective and both spaces have dimension . The constant-geodesic case follows directly from . This uses the convex-normal-neighbourhood theorem, the differential-of-the-exponential map identity, and linear ordinary differential equation uniqueness.
For the special unitary group example, use Jacobi fields from conjugation at a central endpoint. WriteThe endpoints of are and . The latter is central. For every considerConjugation is an isometry for a bi-invariant Riemannian metric, and geodesics of a bi-invariant metric are one-parameter subgroups. Thus is a geodesic variation. Its Jacobi field iswhich vanishes at and because both endpoints are central. Its initial covariant derivative is .
The linear map has kernel equal to the centralizer of an element of a Lie algebra of . Indeed, implies on differentiating at , and that commutation conversely implies . The repeated first two eigenvalues giveAs , rank-nullity theorem givesExplicit independent generators are the fields belonging to , , and . Their initial derivatives are independent because the eigenvalue differences in the and entries are . This also demonstrates directly why the endpoint-value conclusion fails along this geodesic.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 207 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The deterministic SIR model follows the ordinary differential equationsUse and . The state space is , ; summing the three equations proves conservation of this population. Infection is supported only where and , and recovery only where . The rates vanish at the corresponding boundaries, preventing negative compartment sizes.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 308 2 Solution 2026-10-06
Orient both spheres in the standard way and normalize their area forms to total area . The degree of a map between oriented manifolds can be obtained in two ways. For a regular value , use the degree as a sum of local degrees:Each inverse image is isolated by the inverse function theorem, and compactness makes the set finite. The determinant is computed in consistently oriented local coordinates. A second method is spherical degree by area pullback:where the last formula represents as a unit vector in . The pullback of a differential form already contains the signed Jacobian determinant; no extra is to be inserted in that last coordinate expression.
To relate the methods, replace by a smooth top-degree differential form with the same total integral supported in a small neighbourhood of a regular value. Two such top-degree forms with equal integral differ by an exact differential form on , by its top-degree de Rham cohomology. Their pullbacks therefore have the same integral by Stokes theorem. Over the chosen neighbourhood, splits into local inverse branches; the change of variables formula makes the contribution of each branch its orientation sign times . Their sum is precisely the first formula. Thus the area integral is an integer and agrees with the signed inverse-image count.
For a nonconstant rational map, first use common-factor reduction of a rational map so and are coprime. Write for these reduced polynomials. A generic finite target value has inverse images at the roots of : avoiding exceptional values makes its degree and its roots simple. The fundamental theorem of algebra supplies roots. A holomorphic map has positive real Jacobian determinant at a regular point, so every local sign is . HenceThe source leaves coprimality implicit. In an unreduced representation the answer is , including degree zero for a constant reduced map. For example extends to and has degree one, although the unreduced maximum degree is two. Exceptional inverse images at infinity or multiple roots do not change the degree of a rational map of the Riemann sphere.
For the rational map approximation for Skyrmions, use stereographic projection and the unit target vectorCombine this rational map with a radial profile to form a special unitary group field:where are the Pauli matrices. The endpoint values make independent of angle and . Appropriate radial behaviour gives an admissible finite-energy field configuration. With , choose the topological baryon number in the Skyrme model conventionSeparating the radial and angular factors givesThus the degree of a rational map of the Riemann sphere supplies the Skyrmion charge.
In conventional dimensionless massless Skyrme model units, its static energy reduces towith the angular Jacobian of a rational mapThe Cauchy-Schwarz inequality gives . These formulas follow from the radial strain and the two equal angular strains : the quadratic energy sums their squares and the quartic Skyrme term sums their pairwise products of squares. Minimize the angular integral in the rational map approximation over degree- maps, then minimize the remaining radial energy with the stated endpoints. This replaces a three-dimensional field minimization by finitely many map coefficients and an ordinary differential equation for .
The method constructs a charge- variational approximation, with topology built in and with rotational symmetry of a rational map translated into combined spatial and isospin rotations. It is efficient for identifying shapes and providing initial data for unrestricted numerical relaxation. Its restrictions are equally concrete: it uses one radial profile and a holomorphic angular map independent of radius, so it cannot represent arbitrary radial-angular correlations, separated clusters, or all deformations. Apart from the degree-one Skyrmion hedgehog ansatz, it generally does not solve the full field equation exactly. Massive-pion terms can be included in the radial functional but do not remove these restrictions, and multi-shell or unrestricted fields may be needed for larger charges. Approximate energy minima and a final collective-coordinate quantization are distinct steps.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 332 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Take positive downwards from the roof. Write , , and . The cooled magma follows the decreasing liquidus from towards ; the initially superheated liquid starts at above that liquidus. The solid has zero solute concentration. At each temperature in the mushy layer, a horizontal tie line joins the pure solid to the residual liquid on the liquidus. The lever rule gives the liquid fraction from the bulk concentration. Since , this path stops before the eutectic temperature and does not cross the eutectic composition.
The porosity denotes the liquid fraction, so is the solid fraction. Equal phase mass densities remove volume-change flow; the stable density stratification suppresses convection. In the stagnant mushy-layer model, define bulk specific enthalpy and bulk solute concentration byThe arbitrary reference of specific enthalpy has been omitted. The two conservation laws in areHere is the thermal diffusivity, with the thermal conductivity. The positive term records increased specific enthalpy on melting; during freezing it supplies latent heat. In the liquid , the heat equation and solute diffusion equation arewhere is the solutal diffusivity. Neglecting solute diffusion inside the mushy layer does not permit dropping in the liquid at this stage.
Use , liquid and as , and initially , , for . These are the half-space boundary conditions appropriate before cooling reaches the bottom of the chamber. For a closed chamber of finite depth , replace the far-field conditions by the specified bottom conditions, for example at an insulated impermeable floor; the half-space similarity solution then ceases to apply when the thermal penetration depth approaches .
At , let and be the common liquid concentration and temperature, and let be the limiting porosity on the mush side. Continuity of , the Rankine-Hugoniot condition for solute, and the interfacial conservation of energy giveThe first condition has the sign of solute rejection into the liquid. For the sharp-edge stagnant mushy-layer model with nonzero liquid solutal diffusivity, close the free-boundary problem by marginal equilibrium at a mush-liquid boundary:This prevents constitutional supercooling immediately ahead of the mushy layer. A small solid fraction jump at its edge is allowed: imposing as well as these finite- conditions would generally overdetermine the reduced model. At the roof, follows from the liquidus, and no additional solute-flux boundary condition is needed in the diffusion-free mush.
To obtain the large-concentration similarity solution, putThe positive superheat specifies the physically intended liquid initial state. On a similarity solution, are constant, so every newly incorporated level leaves the same constant . Write and . Then throughout the mushy layerFor , , and , the effective heat capacity is constant to relative error . Thus setIntegration of the similarity solution ordinary differential equation gives the leading analytical profilesThe temperature is . In the mushy layer, the concentration and porosity are the displayed ; in the liquid,These retain the liquid solutal boundary layer. For completeness, finite- values of are determined analytically, to the same large- order, by settingand solvingThe solute jump gives exactly; replacing by on the right of the last equation retains that jump's next-order factor, but does not make the linearized thermal profiles exact at finite . The branch has , . All these profiles are leading asymptotic expressions, not exact solutions of the nonlinear finite- heat equation.
For at fixed positive , the complementary error function asymptotic gives , hence , , , and . The result simplifies toIn particular, and . There is no finite interfacial latent heat jump in this limit: the latent heat is released continuously throughout the mushy layer. Matching the two temperature gradients givesThe printed final equation is missing the square on in the exponential. The corrected exponent follows directly from differentiating and is consistent with . The positive root is unique: the mush-side gradient decreases from infinity to zero with , whereas increases. The zero-superheat limit is singular and is not described by a finite positive in this two-region construction.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 332 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Choose the positive direction along the background flow, so ; reverse if necessary. Let measure depth below the impermeable roof, and set . The deep ambient water has . Continuity of pressure at and hydrostatic pressure inside the buoyant CO2 giveHere is permeability of a porous medium and is dynamic viscosity. Since , the ambient return-flow correction to the imposed pressure gradient is higher order. The small aspect ratio supplies the hydrostatic pressure approximation; capillary trapping, dissolution, compressibility and dispersion are omitted in this sharp-interface model.
The depth-integrated Darcy flux is . The actual stored fluid volume is per unit horizontal area, where is the aquifer porosity. Thus the porous gravity current with background flow satisfieswith , and . Both and the later denote actual injected volume per unit transverse width. Away from injection, the equation is an advected porous medium equation. At each finite front impose and vanishing outgoing volume flux per unit width. At the injection point is continuous and . For an initially empty aquifer, . The advective speed is , not .
For a constant-flux porous gravity current, write characteristic depth and extent temporarily. At early times volume conservation gives ; gravity spreading gives . HenceBackground advection becomes comparable when , so the transition scales areFor , the leading similarity solution is symmetric:For , its model ordinary differential equation and boundary conditions areChoose the nonnegative finite-front branch, reflect evenly in , and require at the front. The factor divides the injection equally between the two halves. Integration of the ordinary differential equation gives ; the limiting front slope is . This boundary-value problem determines the initially symmetric shape without assuming an unjustified elementary formula. Independent numerical integration gives in this normalization.
For , upstream storage approaches a finite steady value. With no upstream leakage, for , giving wherever . Downstream the uniform interior carries , soThe upstream volume flux vanishes even though local Darcy velocity contributions from background flow and buoyancy cancel. The upstream stored volume is , a finite constant. The downstream plateau therefore extends a distance , and its front advances at to leading order.
The diffusive nose of an advected porous gravity current has widthIn a frame translating at , balance the time derivative against the nonlinear gravity diffusion. With and , the leading transition is , withIts finite front has as . Independent numerical integration of this boundary-value problem gives , so a more accurate leading nose position is and its local shape is . The entire transition has no elementary closed form. A useful explicit, approximate shape is the volume-preserving linear rampThis gives . Its ramp width is , and its edge obeys the exact kinematic boundary condition to the displayed order. It also has the same area as a sharp step at . This is an approximate ramp closure, not an exact solution of the nonlinear nose ordinary differential equation. A constant phase shift balances the finite upstream storage within this ramp approximation; the full solution's subleading matching may alter constant offsets.
For a rapid injection of total volume , remove the source for and introduce . The advected constant-volume porous gravity current obeys and . A similarity solution has depth proportional to and radius proportional to . Direct substitution gives the compactly supported Barenblatt solutionIndeed . Its centre translates at the pore speed , its two edges are , and its maximum depth decays as . The expression is exact for a point release within this reduced model; finite-width initial data approach this similarity solution at late times. If , the constant-rate current remains in the symmetric spreading regime and the constant-volume solution has a stationary centre.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 335 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the time convention . The free-space Helmholtz equation, with , gives the exact reduced equationFor a forward plane wave at angle , and , whereas . Thus the paraxial approximation neglects relative to . The reduced field satisfies the parabolic wave equationWith the Fourier transform convention used below and its inverse, this becomes an ordinary differential equation for each transverse wavenumber:Consequently the initial-value solution isEquivalently, evaluating the oscillatory Gaussian integral gives the one-dimensional transverse Fresnel propagation formulaThe square-root branch has . The formula is an oscillatory integral for general data, or the Fresnel propagator acting on square-integrable functions. It approaches the initial field as . A plane wave has transverse wavenumber ; the reduced axial phase agrees with through order . This also checks the sign. The paraxial approximation applies to .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 336 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The expansion is singular near the moving lower limit, so expanding throughout the original integral would lose its constant term. Introduce the symmetric exponential integralUnder , the discarded piece becomesThis is a uniform Taylor expansion because . To derive the logarithmic expansion of a symmetric exponential integral without needing another special function, first exploit the same substitution to writeThe estimate follows from . Here is Euler's constant and the small-argument expansion of the exponential integral fixes the constant as well as the logarithm.
Differentiate under the integral and integrate the derivative of over ; the exponentially small endpoint terms vanish. This gives the ordinary differential equationFor the Frobenius method at its regular singular point, write . Substitution gives and . The preceding leading calculation sets , , henceSubtracting the moving-cutoff correction to a symmetric exponential integral yields the requested answer, including the logarithmically enhanced first-order term:Thus the switchback term must be retained when asking for all contributions through order .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 336 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For the outer expansion, the first-order reduced ordinary differential equation gives after imposing the right boundary condition. Its first correction satisfiesAn integrating factor givesThe left boundary is at , where the highest-derivative coefficient is already . Balancing that coefficient against gives a layer of width , not . This is a boundary layer around a moving endpoint:At leading order , and matching to the outer limit one while setting gives . The first correction satisfiesDirect differentiation of verifies the forcing. It vanishes both at zero and at infinity, so no homogeneous term is needed. The requested inner expansion isIts order- overlap constant is zero, agreeing with the outer expansion at the moving endpoint. The overlap can be chosen with .
An independent scaling check drops the reaction term only in the layer and integrates . Its decaying fast solution is proportional to . Sinceit gives exactly the same first correction. A useful additive composite expansion, with the left boundary value made exact, isThe exponentially small remainder at the right endpoint is beyond all retained algebraic orders.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 4 11A b iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
For nonzero , the equilibrium points satisfy . The equilibrium point is stable: it puts the bead at the point farthest from the rotation axis. Writing small in the tangential ordinary differential equation givesThus the small oscillation is simple harmonic motion, with angular frequency and ordinary frequency .
The endpoints represent the same rim point . A perturbation there instead satisfies and is unstable. Equivalently, the centrifugal potential along the hoop is , whose minimum is at zero and maximum at . If , every bead position with zero relative velocity is an equilibrium point, but perturbing that velocity produces unrestored drift; there is no nonzero restoring frequency.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 1 14B b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
For smooth rapidly decaying initial data, apply the Fourier transform in and differentiate under the integral. The Fourier transform of a derivative turns the wave equation intoSolving this constant-coefficient ordinary differential equation givesAt the quotient means its continuous limit , so .
Since , the Translation property of the Fourier transform inverts the first term as . Also has Fourier transform , including its limiting value at zero. The convolution theorem therefore inverts the second term asThis proves the D'Alembert formulaThe formula itself extends beyond the rapidly decaying class: and suffice for a classical solution, verified by differentiation and the two initial conditions. The decay assumption above justifies the ordinary transform derivation without distributional qualifications.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 1 18C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Assume is sufficiently smooth, for example near the exact trajectory. Write at the current value, with a linear map and a bilinear map when the ordinary differential equation is vector valued. Taylor expansion of the stages givesThe exact flow has Taylor expansionMatching the terms through in the Runge-Kutta method gives the sufficient third-order conditions for an explicit Runge-Kutta methodFor scalar , replace by and by in the scalar sense. The resulting local error is ; under a local Lipschitz continuity assumption and bounded derivatives on a finite time interval, the standard one-step error recurrence gives global error , hence third order.
On the linear test equation , putting gives the stability functionThus , so lies inside the linear stability domain. The four order conditions are compatible, for example and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 3 4A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be the Laplace transform of . The initial values give and , while . Therefore, for sufficiently large,The partial fraction decomposition isInverting the elementary Laplace transforms givesThese coefficients give and ; the transformed equation, or direct differentiation, verifies the forcing. Uniqueness follows from uniqueness for the corresponding linear initial-value ordinary differential equation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 105 3 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The growth bound is . A characteristic curve through solvesThe field is locally Lipschitz in space, giving local existence and uniqueness. On either direction of a bounded time interval the Gronwall inequality gives . Thus no trajectory can escape to infinity at finite time. On the resulting compact space-time region, local ordinary differential equation existence continues it, proving global definition for all .
Uniqueness gives the flow composition law and inverse . Differentiation with respect to solves the variational equation, making each map a diffeomorphism. Its positive Jacobian determinant isThese facts constitute the global characteristic flow under linear growth. A uniform global bound on is not required; its bounds on each compact characteristic tube suffice.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 131 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For in the domain of the exponential map at , let be the unique geodesic with initial data and define . The domain consists of initial velocities whose geodesics exist on ; it is open, contains zero, and need not be the whole tangent space. The ordinary differential equation theorem used here says that a smooth vector field has unique maximal integral curves, with an open flow domain and smooth dependence on initial point and time. Applied to the geodesic equation on , it gives smoothness of the exponential map. Rescaling the parameter gives and hence . The inverse function theorem makes a diffeomorphism from a neighbourhood of zero to one of . Coordinates in an orthonormal tangent basis transported by this map are geodesic normal coordinates.
The geodesic sphere of radius is . For small , it is , a smooth compact hypersurface; larger distance spheres need not be smooth. The Gauss lemma statesIn particular radial and angular directions are orthogonal and the radial coordinate measures arc length.
For a piecewise smooth path , put . The Riemannian distance is over such paths from to . Connectedness makes it finite. Reversal and concatenation give symmetry and the triangle inequality; positivity and compatibility with the manifold topology follow locally from geodesic normal coordinates and the Gauss lemma.
Choose so that is a diffeomorphism on a neighbourhood of the closed tangent ball of radius . For , radial geodesics realize the distance from on that ball. Indeed, Gauss lemma bounds any path remaining in the normal ball below by its radial change, while a path leaving the radius- ball already has length at least . Thus the radius- sphere is the compact exponential image described above.
Given , take . The continuous function attains its minimum at some . Every path from to crosses that sphere, since the distance from is continuous. Splitting at a crossing gives length at least . Taking the infimum over paths, and using the triangle inequality in the other direction, proves the distance splitting through a small geodesic sphere equalityThis compact local argument does not assume completeness or the existence of a globally minimizing geodesic to .
For the Lie-group clause, a bi-invariant Riemannian metric has adjoint-invariant identity inner product. Differentiating this invariance gives . The Koszul formula for left-invariant vector fields has no metric-derivative terms, and this skew-adjointness reduces it toThis is the Levi-Civita connection of a bi-invariant metric.
Let be the integral curve through the identity of the left-invariant field with identity value . Uniqueness and left translation show wherever the local curves are defined. The field is complete: a fixed local existence interval about the identity translates to an equally long interval at every point of the group. Restarting the curve before any proposed finite endpoint extends it beyond that endpoint. Thus exists on , and uniqueness now gives the group law for every .
Since , this integral curve is a geodesic. Conversely any geodesic starting at the identity has the same initial data as one of these curves and agrees with it by uniqueness. Therefore the geodesics of a bi-invariant metric are one-parameter subgroups conclusion isThe zero velocity gives the constant, trivial subgroup. Here is the Exponential map of a Lie group; for this metric it agrees at the identity with the Riemannian exponential.

