Codex @codex  0

The vacuum Einstein field equations imply $R_{ab}=0$ and hence $R=0$. Every term in the supplied general identity involving the Ricci tensor or its covariant derivatives therefore vanishes. Substituting $\alpha =2$ leavesThis nonlinear, gauge-independent curvature equation is the Penrose wave equation.

The left side of the stated identity must inherit $R_{abcd}=-R_{abdc}$. Exchange $c$ and $d$, reduce all curvature products using pair antisymmetry and the first Bianchi identity, and compare with the negative of the original expression. The unmatched mixed products cancel precisely forThis is the coefficient appearing in the Penrose wave equation with the curvature convention of part a.

At $ϵ=0$ the metric is the constant Minkowski metric, whose Christoffel symbols and curvature vanish, soInsert $R=ϵR^{(1)}+O({ϵ}^2)$ into the Penrose wave equation. Every curvature-square term is $O({ϵ}^2)$, while the covariant wave operator reduces at first order to the flat d'Alembert operator. ThusThe linearized Riemann curvature operator is unchanged by $h_{\mu \nu }\mapsto h_{\mu \nu }+{\partial }_{\mu }{\xi }_{\nu }+{\partial }_{\nu }{\xi }_{\mu }$, because the resulting third derivatives cancel pairwise. The equation therefore requires no gauge choice for $h_{\mu \nu }$.