Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 58 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Choose a local orthonormal coframe with . The Levi-Civita connection is represented by the connection 1-forms satisfyingThe gamma matrices satisfy the Clifford algebra relations . The matrices represent the infinitesimal orthogonal transformations on spinor fields; lifting the frame connection to this representation defines the spinor covariant derivativeBoth frame indices are summed, so each antisymmetric pair occurs twice. Under a local Lorentz transformation with spin lift , the spin connection transforms as and ; consequently . This establishes covariance. Global construction requires a compatible spin structure (and the appropriate orientation and time orientation); the formulas themselves work on a local orthonormal frame patch.
The supplied gamma matrices have squares and anticommute pairwise, so . Work on a connected regular patch with and . Since the metric depends only on , we may use its positive smooth square root . TakeTheir exterior derivatives are , , and . Solving Cartan's first structure equation and imposing Lorentzian connection-form antisymmetry givesIn particular and . The parallel spinor equations are thereforeDifferentiate the angular equation with respect to and use . This gives . Since , this matrix is invertible. A parallel spinor that vanishes at any point vanishes everywhere on the connected domain, by uniqueness of parallel transport. Thus a nonzero parallel spinor implies throughout the patch. There are no nonzero parallel spinors unless is constant. The zero spinor field is always a solution, so “nonzero” is essential in interpreting the printed assertion. A smooth original of either sign is constant on such a patch exactly when is constant; is excluded because the given metric is not defined there.
Write the constant as , and introduce , , and . The metric becomesA circle at small has circumference if has period , whereas its proper radius is . Smoothness requires circumference divided by radius to tend to , not a multiple of . Conversely, when , the coordinates , exhibit a smooth flat spatial disk. HenceFor a prescribed period , this requires ; otherwise there is a conical singularity at the apex.
For constant , the time and radial equations make the components independent of . The angular equation has all solutionswhere is an arbitrary constant two-component spinor field and . There are two independent real solutions for real spinor fields, or two independent complex solutions if complex spinors are used. At the smooth angular period, these polar-frame components change sign. This is exactly the polar-frame parallel spinor transformation under the spin lift of a full rotation: the rotating polar orthonormal frame does not extend through the origin. The spin structure extending over the disk uses this antiperiodic polar trivialization; in a Cartesian orthonormal frame the same parallel spinors have constant components and extend smoothly. Requiring periodic components in the rotating frame would select the other spin structure on the punctured disk, which does not extend over its center.