Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2016 / iii / Paper 309 / 2 / iv / Solution

Rearranging the outgoing radial null geodesics of the Vaidya metric equation along $r=r_0(v)$ givesFor the prescribed parametrization by $w$, the chain rule yieldsSince $n>1$, $v/w=1+2\beta w^{n-1}\to 1$ as $w\to 0^{+}$. The asymptotic equivalence $w\sim v$ therefore impliesMore precisely $w=v+O(v^n)$ and $M(v)=(\beta /2)v^n[1+O(v^{n-1})]$, using Big O notation. The positivity of $dv/dw$ justifies treating $w$ as a single-valued function of $v$ locally.