Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2004 / iii / Paper 59 / 1 / c / Solution

For a tangential covector, the projected derivative is $D_{\nu }{W}_{\gamma }=P^{\beta }{}_{\nu }{P}^{\delta }{}_{\gamma }{\nabla }_{\beta }{W}_{\delta }$. Its second derivative isExpanding by the product rule, the derivative of the first inner projector gives $K_{\mu \nu }{n}^{\eta }{P}^{\kappa }{}_{\gamma }{\nabla }_{\eta }{W}_{\kappa }$. This contribution cancels on antisymmetrizing $\mu ,\nu$, because $K$ is symmetric.

The derivative of the second inner projector gives $K_{\mu \gamma }{n}^{\kappa }{P}^{\eta }{}_{\nu }{\nabla }_{\eta }{W}_{\kappa }$. Differentiating tangentiality, $n^{\kappa }{W}_{\kappa }=0$, rewrites it asThe remaining term is the projected four-dimensional curvature commutator. Using the curvature convention of the question,and replacing the tangential $W_{\xi }$ by $W_{\lambda }{P}^{\lambda }{}_{\xi }$, we obtainSince this holds for every tangential covector, the Gauss equation follows:The signs use a timelike unit normal and the specified commutator convention; reversing a curvature convention without changing the commutator would change the comparison.