A vector field along a map assigns smoothly to each parameter value. Equivalently, it is a section of a vector bundle . The pullback connection defines its covariant derivative along a curve, . To make the definition explicit, use connection coefficients with the convention
For the derivative is
The change of frame of a vector-bundle connection ensures this expression is independent of the coordinate chart. It remains meaningful when and does not require extending to one ambient vector field.
The field is parallel exactly when . A geodesic for , with its specified affine parameter, is a smooth curve whose own tangent is parallel:
This definition applies to any affine connection, whether or not it is a metric connection. A non-affine change of parameter generally gives a pregeodesic instead of this parametrized geodesic.
The radial null geodesics satisfy
The ingoing family has , with decreasing toward the future; its tangent is affinely parametrized because . The outgoing family has
Away from the Schwarzschild event horizon, integration gives . These are null geodesics up to reparametrization: a null direction in the two-dimensional radial geometry is automatically pregeodesic, and the angular geodesic equations are satisfied by constant angles. On the Schwarzschild event horizon the outgoing family instead has , with tangent proportional to .
In a Finkelstein diagram, plot vertically and horizontally. Ingoing rays obey ; outgoing rays obey
Outside the Schwarzschild event horizon, outgoing rays increase ; on it they remain at ; inside it they decrease even though increases. Thus both radial future null directions point toward smaller inside the black hole. Every future timelike direction lies between these null directions, so it also moves toward smaller there.
Figure 1.
Radial light rays in ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates across the Schwarzschild horizon
. Details.
Arrows show future propagation. The vertical red line is the Schwarzschild event horizon; the black boundary at is the Schwarzschild singularity.
Pregeodesic 2026-10-06
A pregeodesic is a curve whose tangent obeys for some scalar . A change of parameter makes it a geodesic with an affine parameter. A varying speed along a geodesic changes its parameter, not its image.