Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 311 1 a i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use , the Einstein field equations with zero cosmological constant, and metric signature . Write for the differential one-form dual to the axial Killing vector field. To fix the sign of the volume formula, use the component Hodge star operator convention and . The Killing equation gives , and its contracted curvature identity givesTo see the curvature step, tracing the Killing equation gives . The second covariant derivative of a Killing vector then gives , while commuting the covariant derivatives gives . Subtracting these two terms is precisely above. The component Hodge star operator converts this divergence to with the displayed minus sign.
In a vacuum spacetime region , so . If and are enclosing spacelike submanifolds in the same homology class bounding a vacuum three-dimensional region , Stokes theorem yieldsThus the Komar angular momentum is independent of the enclosing vacuum spacelike two-manifold, provided the surfaces have the same orientation and enclose the same sources and inner boundaries. The vacuum region need not be stationary: an axial Killing vector field suffices.
For a regular filling hypersurface with , the Einstein field equations giveThe pullback of to vanishes because is tangent to : the dual three-form measures the normal component, which is zero. ThereforeThis is the stress-energy current from a Killing vector integrated over the slice, with the signs fixed by the stated Hodge star operator convention.
There is a necessary boundary qualification omitted from the printed formulation. If the slice has inner boundaries , orient them so . The actual Komar angular momentum with inner boundaries identity isFor a vacuum Kerr black hole, on the exterior slice but ; its horizon supplies precisely the inner boundary contribution. Thus the matter-only formula is false for arbitrary exterior slices. It is valid when a nonsingular filling with no inner boundaries exists, or when all omitted inner charges vanish. The Komar angular momentum independence likewise concerns homologous surfaces in the same vacuum region, not an unrestricted comparison of differently enclosed objects.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 311 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Put and . Expanding the metric tensor in the stationary direction gives the useful exact identitiesTaking the exterior derivative givesThe fibered form of the metric tensor has determinant . Its inverse components needed for the flux areThereforesince . This calculation includes the rotational mixed term; dropping it prematurely would miss the exact cancellation.
With the stipulated negative coordinate orientation, . The pullback of the Hodge star operator to the constant- three-dimensional spacelike submanifold is consequentlyThe coordinate ranges and standard sphere identifications giveThus the five-dimensional Komar mass, in the normalization given and , isThe flux is already independent of in the vacuum region, so its limit at infinity has the same value. The negative orientation in the question is crucial for the positive sign; reversing that orientation reverses the flux.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 20I c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The antipodal map is the restriction to the boundary of the unit ball of on . The induced orientation on the sphere is reversed or preserved according to the determinant of that ambient linear map, namely . Its degree is therefore . With integral coefficients, for the induced top-homology map isAt , ordinary instead has its two generators exchanged; multiplication by is the statement on reduced . This distinguishes the small-dimension exception from the usual top-degree formula.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 24I Solution 2026-10-05
For sufficiently small, let be the geodesic with , , and define . The domain consists more generally of initial velocities whose geodesic exists through time one. Uniqueness and affine rescaling give near zero, soThus the differential is the identity under the natural identification of tangent spaces, and the inverse function theorem makes the exponential map a local diffeomorphism near zero.
A punctured plane has geodesics reaching its missing point in finite time, so its exponential map need not be global; adding the point remedies this example. But an extension cannot always remedy the failure. On the punctured circular cone , radial generators are geodesics and reach the missing point in finite intrinsic length. Any globally defined extension would have to include their limiting point . The cone's tangent planes have different limits as varies; no smooth embedded surface through that point can contain this punctured circular cone. Hence no such extension exists for this .
For an oriented surface and a closed topological disc with smooth positively oriented boundary, the Gauss-Bonnet theorem with boundary saysHere is signed geodesic curvature with the disc on the left. A smooth boundary has no corner terms; piecewise smooth boundaries require exterior-angle terms.
For the flat disc in the problem this gives . Conditions (i) and (ii) mean that the proposed replacement disc has the same boundary and agrees with the original smooth surface from the outside. Smoothness therefore gives the same tangent planes, metric derivatives and boundary geodesic curvature on the replacement, with consistent orientation. Applying Gauss-Bonnet to that disc forcesThus these gluing conditions fix the total curvature of any smooth replacement disc, regardless of its detailed interior shape.
The nonnegative continuous Gaussian curvature on the compact replacement disc, together with its zero integral established by Gauss-Bonnet, forces it to vanish at every point of that disc. Outside it the replacement surface agrees with the original flat surface, so its curvature also vanishes there; smoothness covers the common boundary. Consequently no point of the replacement surface can have positive Gaussian curvature. Therefore no surface can satisfy all three conditions. A disc with some positive curvature could only have compensating negative curvature or alter the smooth boundary gluing, both excluded here.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 140 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
A symplectomorphism is a diffeomorphism, so it preserves the genus of a surface. It also preserves the orientation determined by the symplectic form and, by integration of a pullback of a differential form, preserves the symplectic area.
Conversely, equal genus of a surface gives a diffeomorphism . We can choose to preserve the orientations determined by : if necessary, compose with an orientation-reversing diffeomorphism of the standard closed orientable surface of that genus of a surface, obtained by reflection of a symmetric handle model. On put . Both and are positive volume forms for the same orientation, and their integrals agree. By top-degree de Rham cohomology, .
The family consists of positive volume forms, hence symplectic forms in dimension two, with constant de Rham cohomology class. Moser theorem supplies with . ConsequentlyTherefore the genus of a surface and symplectic area classify compact connected symplectic surfaces.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 140 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
There is an orientation convention in this statement: the two volume forms must be positive for one fixed orientation, as is usual in Moser theorem for volume forms. Without that convention, the stated necessity is false. For example, on an oriented two-sphere, take a positive volume form and an orientation-reversing diffeomorphism , and set . Then but . We prove the intended result with a common orientation.
If , positivity forces to preserve the orientation, and integration of the pullback of a differential form gives equality of the integrals.
For sufficiency, top-degree de Rham cohomology gives a differential form of degree with . Put . Positivity makes every a volume form. The interior product of a differential form gives an linear isomorphismThus there is a unique smooth time-dependent vector field satisfying . Since is compact, its local flow exists throughout and defines a smooth isotopy starting at the identity. By Cartan's magic formula, and since a top-degree differential form has zero exterior derivative,HenceThe zero-dimensional case, a single point, is immediate from equality of the integrals.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 311 2 b Solution 2026-09-28
Put . At large , the one-form dual to hasOnly the term contributes to the constant- Komar integral, andWith the stated orientation, the asymptotic Hodge star operator givesThe angular integral is the area of the unit four-sphere,ConsequentlyThis is the Komar mass of the Singly rotating six-dimensional Myers-Perry black hole in the units of the question.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 2 21I Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-10-03
The Snake lemma associates to a commutative diagram with exact rows an exact sequenceFor , apply it degree by degree to the short exact sequence of chain complexesThe resulting connecting maps splice the kernels modulo boundaries into the Mayer--Vietoris sequence
Now let satisfy the stated simplicial pseudomanifold conditions. In an -cycle, cancellation at a common -face determines the coefficient of either incident -simplex from the other, up to the orientation sign. Connectivity through such faces therefore determines every top-simplex coefficient from one integer. If the signs are globally compatible, their oriented sum is a cycle and generates ; if they are inconsistent, that integer must be zero and .
Let be the resulting fundamental class, represented by . Since the intersection has dimension below , split uniquely
into top chains in and . Thenand the Mayer--Vietoris boundary isIt is nonzero exactly when both and contain top-dimensional simplices; if one side contains none, the fundamental cycle already lies in the other side, while if both do, connectedness forces a nonempty interface and its oriented boundary represents a nonzero class.
into top chains in and . Thenand the Mayer--Vietoris boundary isIt is nonzero exactly when both and contain top-dimensional simplices; if one side contains none, the fundamental cycle already lies in the other side, while if both do, connectedness forces a nonempty interface and its oriented boundary represents a nonzero class.
Finally take , , and
. The preceding boundaryis a nonzero map between copies of and sends the fundamental class to the oriented boundary torus, hence is an isomorphism. Exactness then givesThe next part of the sequence isSince , it follows that
. The degree-zero sequence makes connected. Therefore
. The preceding boundaryis a nonzero map between copies of and sends the fundamental class to the oriented boundary torus, hence is an isomorphism. Exactness then givesThe next part of the sequence isSince , it follows that
. The degree-zero sequence makes connected. Therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 131 3 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
An orientation selects the positive ordered bases in each tangent space. On an oriented -dimensional Riemannian manifold, the Riemannian volume form is the unique smooth -form satisfyingfor every positively oriented orthonormal frame. In positively oriented local coordinates,
The metric induces an inner product on the bundle of -forms. The Hodge star operator is the unique linear mapsuch thatfor all -forms . With the codifferential , the Laplace-Beltrami operator on differential forms is
The Hodge decomposition theorem says that on a compact oriented Riemannian manifold,an -orthogonal direct sum, where is the finite-dimensional space of harmonic -forms. Every de Rham cohomology class has exactly one harmonic representative.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 131 3 b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Yes to both questions. Since has top degree, . Moreover , so the formula for the codifferential givesThereforeand the Riemannian volume form is a harmonic differential form.
The Levi-Civita connection preserves both the Riemannian metric and its chosen orientation. At any point, extend a positively oriented orthonormal basis to a local frame whose covariant derivatives vanish at that point. Differentiating there gives . Hence is a parallel differential form.
The fundamental class of a complex projective line generates . Two distinct projective lines are homologous and meet at one transverse point. In complex affine coordinates their two complex tangent lines concatenate to the complex orientation of the plane, so the signed intersection is . The integral intersection form therefore has matrix , giving a unimodular intersection pairing. This computes a self-intersection through distinct representatives of the same class.
Quasiconformal mapping Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-07
An orientation-preserving homeomorphism with locally weak derivatives and essentially bounded infinitesimal distortion. In holomorphic coordinates, its Beltrami coefficient satisfies , and the maximal dilatation is .
For , and the standard oriented Euclidean metric, the real and imaginary parts of , together with , span the self-dual two-forms. The printed complex four-form is four times the metric volume form and gives the same orientation.
Smooth intersection number 2026-10-06
For complementary-dimensional oriented submanifolds of an oriented manifold meeting transversely in finitely many points, the smooth intersection number is the sum of their local orientation signs. Geometric disjointness implies number zero, but number zero alone need not imply geometric disjointness. Without coherent orientations, use the count modulo .
Symplectic area 2026-10-05
The symplectic area of a compact symplectic surface is , using the orientation determined by the symplectic form.