Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2012 / iii / Paper 56 / 1 / c / iii / Solution

For $n\ne 0$, put $\rho =f(r)/|n|$ and $\theta =|n|\varphi$. Then $d{\rho }^2=d{r}^2$ andThese give a local isometry wherever $\rho >0$. For $n=0$, $f=b>0$, and the local coordinates $X=r$, $Y=b\varphi$ similarly give the Euclidean plane metric tensor. Equivalently, the Gaussian curvature of the original Riemannian metric is $-f^{\prime \prime }/f=0$ throughout this family.

A local isometry need not be a global isometry. If $|n|=1$, the displayed polar map is injective modulo $\varphi \sim \varphi +2\pi$ and identifies the regular domain with a Euclidean annulus, possibly a punctured disc or the punctured Euclidean plane, according to the radial interval. If $|n|>1$, it is a $|n|$-fold covering of that annulus: distinct angles differing by $2\pi /|n|$ have the same image. This developing map cannot be made injective by a different choice of Euclidean coordinates, since two local Euclidean isometries on a connected flat domain differ by a rigid motion once their value and differential are fixed at one point. For $n=0$, the domain is a flat cylinder; its circular curves are closed geodesics, whereas the Euclidean plane has no nonconstant closed geodesic.

All these metrics are locally Euclidean; they are not all globally Euclidean. Even the regular $|n|=1$ domain is an annular region rather than the entire Euclidean plane. A regular axis can be added without a conical singularity only when $|n|=1$; with the full radial range this completion becomes the Euclidean plane. Trivial holonomy alone therefore does not supply a global injective Euclidean chart.