Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2014 / iii / Paper 53 / 1 / a

Write $h_{ij}={}^{(3)}{g}_{ij}$ for the positive spatial metric tensor and $h^{ij}$ for its inverse. Expanding the 3+1 decomposition gives $g_{00}=N^2-h_{ij}{N}^i{N}^j$, $g_{0i}=-h_{ij}{N}^j$ and $g_{ij}=-h_{ij}$. The inverse isFor example, $g^{00}{g}_{00}+g^{0i}{g}_{i0}=1$, and $g^{00}{g}_{0j}+g^{0i}{g}_{ij}=0$. The spatial block similarly gives $g^{i0}{g}_{0j}+g^{ik}{g}_{kj}={\delta }^i{}_j$. These checks determine all blocks without treating the spatial block alone as the inverse of the four-metric.

Raising the normal covector with this inverse metric tensor yieldsTake $N>0$ so it is future-pointing. Its norm is $n_{\mu }{n}^{\mu }=1$. The spatial projection tensor obeys $P^{\mu }{}_{\nu }{n}^{\nu }=0$, and multiplication givesThus it is an idempotent linear projection onto vectors tangent to the spatial hypersurface. The negative spatial components of the spacetime metric tensor do not change this idempotence.

With the $+---$ signature and $n^2=1$, direct expansion of the two spatial projection tensors givesThis restriction is negative definite on spatial vectors. The positive spatial induced metric is instead $h_{\alpha \beta }=n_{\alpha }{n}_{\beta }-g_{\alpha \beta }=-q_{\alpha \beta }$, whose pullback to a time slice is the $h_{ij}$ used in the line element. The spatial metric sign for a unit timelike normal is important here: the plus sign in the PDF's claimed equality is incompatible with its normal normalization: $g_{\alpha \beta }+n_{\alpha }{n}_{\beta }$ is not even transverse to $n^{\alpha }$.

The spatial covariant derivative of a spatial tensor projects every index, including its derivative index. Projection only on the derivative index is sufficient for a scalar but not for a general tensor. Using metric compatibility of the spacetime Levi-Civita connection, we obtainEach term contains a normal contracted with its spatial projection tensor. Consequently $\boxed{D_i{h}_{jk}=0}$, and the negative spatial restriction also satisfies $D_i{q}_{jk}=0$. This proves the requested metric compatibility of the spatial covariant derivative after correcting the source's metric sign. Contracting indices gives the particular expression written in the question.

Differentiate the spatial projection tensor before making any contractions:For the spatial projector derivative identity, its first term vanishes after projection on $\mu$. The definition of the extrinsic curvature of a spatial hypersurface then gives the stronger tensor identityHere $\lambda$ remains a free index. For a normal to a genuine foliation, the extrinsic curvature is symmetric: projecting ${\nabla }_{[\nu }{n}_{\mu ]}$ gives zero because locally $n_{\mu }$ is a scalar multiple of a time gradient. This is hypersurface orthogonality implies symmetric extrinsic curvature.

Contract $\rho$ with $\lambda$ in the stronger identity to obtain exactly the contraction displayed in the PDF:The last equality follows from the transversality of the extrinsic curvature. Thus the literal printed identity is valid, although both its sides vanish; the uncontracted identity explains its geometric origin.