Evaluate the metric inner products of the proposed orthonormal tetrad to first order in the vector cosmological perturbation:
The orthonormal tetrad therefore has metric signature to the required order. Put and . The photon momentum components are
They satisfy the null vector condition to first order, with .
Use as parameter in the time component of the geodesic equation:
The derivative of the direction is first order, since the background photon moves on a straight comoving line; is consequently second order. With ,
The supplied Levi-Civita connection coefficients give
The spatial gradients and all background expansion terms cancel. Since vanishes in the background, its product with is also second order. The photon energy redshift from a vector metric perturbation is therefore
An independent check uses the covariant component . The covariant geodesic equation gives ; the conformal expansion term vanishes by the null vector condition and reproduces the same result.