Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / ii / Paper 1 / 37D (General Relativity)

Because the Levi-Civita connection is torsion-free, its Christoffel symbols satisfy ${\Gamma }_{\rho \alpha }^{\mu }={\Gamma }_{\alpha \rho }^{\mu }$. Substitute the stated coordinate expression for each term in the cyclic sumThe partial-derivative terms cancel pairwise by the lower-index symmetry of $\Gamma$, and the quadratic terms cancel after relabelling their dummy indices. Thereforewhich is the first Bianchi identity.

Expanding the two covariant derivatives of a vector, the second partial derivatives cancel in the commutator. The remaining derivatives and products of Christoffel symbols combine into the coordinate definition of the Riemann curvature tensor, giving the Ricci identityFor a type-$(2,0)$ tensor, the connection acts on both upper indices, so the curvature commutator on a contravariant tensor is

Lower the free index of $K$. The Killing equation makes the last two indices of ${\nabla }_{\nu }{\nabla }_{\mu }{K}_{\alpha }$ antisymmetric after the appropriate derivative is moved. Combining the three resulting Ricci identities cyclically givesApplying the covector form of the Ricci identity and then the first Bianchi identity reduces this toRaising $\alpha$ proves the second covariant derivative of a Killing vector identityContracting $\mu$ and $\nu$ and using the definition and symmetries of the Ricci tensor gives

The Killing equation gives ${\nabla }_{\mu }{K}^{\mu }=0$ and ${\nabla }_{[\mu }{K}_{\lambda ]}={\nabla }_{\mu }{K}_{\lambda }$. Commuting derivatives once and contracting the Ricci identity givesTherefore, using the contracted Bianchi identity and symmetry of $R_{\mu \beta }$,Since ${\nabla }_{[\mu }{K}_{\lambda ]}$ is antisymmetric, swapping the two contracted index names shows that the left side equals its derivative-antisymmetrized form:Now set $A_{\mu \lambda }={\nabla }_{[\mu }{K}_{\lambda ]}$. The right side is the contracted commutator $[{\nabla }^{\mu },{\nabla }^{\lambda }]A_{\mu \lambda }$. By the curvature commutator on a covariant tensor, it is a sum of contractions of the symmetric Ricci tensor with the antisymmetric tensor $A$, and hence vanishes. Thusso the Killing vector preserves scalar curvature.