Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 34D a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Let and parametrize the timelike geodesic by proper time . Time-translation and rotational symmetry conserve and in the equatorial plane. The normalized four-velocity obeysSubstitution and multiplication by give , orThe dot denotes a proper-time derivative, and are energy and angular momentum per unit rest mass.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 4 34D d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
For a radial timelike geodesic, the static Killing energy is and normalization gives . Choose and start at with outward velocity one. An explicit trajectory isIt solves and reaches at . Differentiating the energy equation gives , the radial geodesic equation, so this is an actual freely falling trajectory.
The regular coordinate satisfies , which is finite and positive at the crossing. Together with , the trajectory extends through the horizon in the regular chart. Divergence of the static time there does not imply infinite proper time.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 4 11B a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
In the Earth inertial frame, the return journey takes . Bob is at rest in this frame, while Alice's proper time is reduced by the Lorentz factor . Neglecting the short turnaround interval, their increases in age are
The twin paradox is the apparent contradiction from applying reciprocal time dilation to claim that each twin must be younger than the other. Alice changes inertial frames at the turnaround, so a single comoving inertial frame cannot describe her whole journey; Bob uses one inertial frame throughout. The twins follow different world lines, and integrating proper time along those world lines gives the displayed, consistent ages. The change in Alice's notion of simultaneity at turnaround removes the apparent contradiction. Acceleration distinguishes the paths; its magnitude is not an additional local rule for aging.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 4 11B b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The meetings occur where Bob's constant position intersects Alice's positive- branch of the hyperbolic motion:Bob is at rest in this inertial frame, so his elapsed proper time is
Parametrize Alice's world line bySince increases with , the proper time element isAt the meetings, , giving endpoints . Thus Alice's elapsed proper time isHere is the nonnegative real inverse hyperbolic cosine. As a check, if with , then Bob ages by and Alice by ; confirms that Bob again ages more.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 309 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Set , so and , where . Dots in this solution mean derivatives with respect to proper time . The geodesic Lagrangian becomesThe Euler-Lagrange equation for gives . The Euler-Lagrange equation for givesEliminate between these equations. The two angular Euler-Lagrange equations follow by differentiating and . Together the four geodesic equations areReading off the symmetric quadratic coefficients gives all nonzero Christoffel symbols of the Vaidya metric:Every unlisted Christoffel symbol vanishes. The lower-index symmetry is that of the Levi-Civita connection. In particular, the time-dependent mass contributes to ; it is absent from . There are eleven independent nonzero entries, or fifteen when both lower-index orders are counted.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 309 4 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Put and write , where , and . Physical fields are the real parts. Use here, and take the initial separation at equal time, so . For propagation in the positive direction one may set ; only enters the answer.
The linearized Levi-Civita connection in this transverse-traceless gauge has the potentially nonzero componentswith all others zero to this order. In particular , so a particle initially at rest has fixed spatial coordinates in transverse-traceless gauge, and equals its proper time. Expanding the Riemann curvature tensor givesThe plus sign in the last expression agrees with in the geodesic deviation convention above.
For the separation measured in a parallel-propagated orthonormal frame, write . The frame removes the connection terms from the time derivative, so the geodesic deviation equation reduces to at first order. The observable transverse relative acceleration isThese are the plus polarization and cross polarization tidal patterns; there is no longitudinal acceleration. The curvature is evaluated along the reference worldline, and replacing by on the right changes only second-order terms. This is the infinitesimal-separation approximation intrinsic to geodesic deviation.
There is an important component distinction if the symbols are instead interpreted literally in the transverse-traceless gauge coordinate basis. Expanding the left side, rather than replacing a covariant derivative by an ordinary derivative, givesThus in TT coordinatesWith zero initial coordinate displacement and velocity, throughout. This does not remove the physical gravitational wave strain. To first order an orthonormal coframe in spacetime along the reference worldline is ; its dual frame is parallel propagated because . Henceafter choosing the initial flat-frame reference. The TT coordinate separation and measured separation distinction accounts exactly for the apparently different accelerations. In a region initially free of the wave, the measured displacement is with the corresponding initial conditions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 311 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A spacetime is geodesically complete if every maximal geodesic has an affine parameter ranging over all of . For timelike geodesics this is equivalent to unbounded proper time in both directions. An extendible geodesic segment can be prolonged in the same spacetime; an inextendible geodesic cannot. A finite coordinate endpoint need not imply finite affine parameter.
For the Kruskal spacetime, use withIn the right exterior . A truncated ray , is an extendible geodesic of radial null type: neither artificial endpoint is a spacetime boundary. A future ray in the black hole reaches , hence , and is inextendible geodesic and future null-geodesically incomplete. Its Killing energy gives , so the Schwarzschild singularity occurs at finite affine parameter. The maximal continuation toward the past supplies the other half of this same null geodesic.
There is no inextendible, complete radial timelike geodesic in positive-mass Kruskal spacetime. This requested example is impossible as printed. For a radial timelike geodesic, the conserved Killing energy and normalization giveIf , has at most one turning point, a maximum ; a maximal trajectory runs from the white hole Schwarzschild singularity to the Schwarzschild singularity. If , there is no finite turning point; one end can lie at infinity but the other reaches . The exceptional trajectory through the bifurcation surface also reaches in both time directions. Near ,whose integral is finite. Constant- radial timelike curves are accelerated, not geodesics.
Two plausible repairs have different meanings. Removing “radial” permits a complete circular timelike geodesic at , with nonzero angular momentum and proper time ranging over . Replacing “timelike” by “null” permits a complete horizon null geodesic: , , with an affine parameter. The Penrose diagram shows both repairs explicitly, together with the two valid requested examples; the circular trajectory is only a radial projection and is labelled as nonradial.
Kruskal causal diagram with extendible and incomplete null rays and explicitly labelled repairs to the impossible radial timelike example
. The horizontal boundaries are the Schwarzschild singularities, diagonal dashed lines are the Killing horizons, and outer diagonal edges are null infinity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 311 1 c ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For radial free fall, let be Alice's conserved Killing energy. The inward branch of the timelike geodesic has , henceWith , the near-horizon geodesic equations giveThe constants in the logarithms are understood to make their arguments dimensionless. Therefore . For an outgoing signal reaching the fixed-radius Bob, , so . The redshift consequently behaves asThis is the answer when is Bob's Schwarzschild time, as appropriate to the stated observation. It is the Schwarzschild surface gravity . If instead means the emission Schwarzschild time , the same redshift is proportional to and gives . The two answers use different clocks, not different dynamics. If the measured exponential uses Bob's proper time , its rate is . In SI units the reception-time result is .
The reception-time exponent also holds for smooth radial infall crossing the future Schwarzschild event horizon with finite nonzero : regular Ingoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates give finite there, . Thus no special value of is needed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 311 1 c i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Define Outgoing Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates by . The radial Schwarzschild metric becomesOutgoing radio rays have constant . Two nearby wave crests emitted at Alice's proper times and have separation . At Bob's fixed radius , and , where . Thus the exact local redshift isHere the wavelength ratio equals the proper time period ratio in geometric optics. Equivalently, the phase gradient gives Alice's measured frequency and Bob's .
In the asymptotically distant-observer limit , this becomes . “Far away” is the approximation behind the printed formula; at finite the factor remains.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 309 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For a timelike tangent , put and , and use the Euler-Lagrange equations. For the quadratic geodesic Lagrangian, they reduce toHere the first equation has been multiplied by an irrelevant minus sign. For the length Lagrangian, its derivatives are times those of , and differentiating that factor yields insteadThis is the unparametrized geodesic equation, the key to why timelike length and energy have the same geodesic images. Define proper time locally by and put . The product rule then gives and . Conversely an affinely parametrized timelike geodesic has constant , by metric compatibility, and therefore satisfies both equations.
Thus the two variational problems have the same oriented timelike geodesic images, after reparametrization. They do not have exactly the same parametrized solutions with an arbitrary fixed : in Minkowski spacetime, , , , satisfies the length equation but not the quadratic equation. The timelike assumption excludes , where this argument and the length derivative would fail.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 309 3 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
An electromagnetic field tensor obeys the homogeneous Maxwell equations . Together with its invariance under the Killing vector field , Cartan's magic formula gives . The local potential of a closed differential one-form construction, the one-form Poincare lemma, therefore supplies a scalar field on a sufficiently small contractible neighborhood withFor an explicit local proof, write on a coordinate ball centered at zero and take . Since , differentiating under the integral gives . There need not be a global potential when this closed one-form has nonzero periods. The homogeneous Maxwell equation is essential; an arbitrary invariant two-form would not suffice.
Use proper time for the massive particle, let be its tangent, and assume . The Killing equation makes . The Lorentz force equation then impliesConsequently the local conserved quantity isThe sign follows from contracting in its first argument, exactly as in the source. Adding a constant to merely shifts the conserved quantity. This is a charged-particle conserved quantity from a Killing symmetry.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 1 35D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Use a Lorentz boost along positive with . Since , its dimensionless speed is less than one. The given transformation of the electric field and magnetic field yields andAll other electric components vanish. In this frame a magnetic field does no work, so the particle's speed and Lorentz factor are constant. In proper time, the Lorentz force equations are and . Thus, choosing the phase and origin,This is the signed proper-time cyclotron frequency; the frequency with respect to is . The inverse Lorentz boost givesIn particular the average drift speed is along .
For , , set and . The dimensionless spatial curve isThe drift between successive cycles is . When , this is small compared with the oscillation size: the curve consists of nearly closed loops with slow rightward drift. When , the longitudinal drift is large, producing a progressing oscillatory curve. More precisely : loops occur for , cusps at , and monotone progression for . The stated large-drift inequality compares the drift over a full cycle, so an example of that regime with is shown; that comparison alone does not replace the exact loop criterion.
The relativistic drift of a charged particle
. Reversing reverses the cyclotron orientation; the drift remains along positive . If the trajectory is pure straight drift and the dimensionless coordinates are undefined. If the particle is inertial and the displayed parametrization must be replaced by its inertial limit.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 1 36D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Put . For the equatorial geodesic, the geodesic Lagrangian is , where dots denote derivatives with respect to the affine parameter. The cyclic coordinates give constants and . A third constant is the tangent norm , preserved by the geodesic equation and metric compatibility. For a timelike geodesic rescale the affine parameter to proper time so ; for a null geodesic .
Substitute , into the norm identity and multiply by . It gives the effective potential equationOutside the horizon , its derivative is . A nontrivial circular null geodesic requires , givingFor a circular timelike geodesic,At it , and its radius exceeds . If no finite circular timelike radius exists. Thus all finite circular null and timelike orbits in this five-dimensional exterior are radially unstable. The energy of a circular orbit is fixed by , not independently arbitrary.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 1 37E b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Because is proper time, the four-velocity has normalizationAt , the initial data therefore giveBoth and are future oriented, so the positive root must be chosen:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 3 37D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Write the electromagnetic field tensor as . Substitution into the Covariant Maxwell equation with the minus-plus-plus-plus metric givesChoose the Lorenz gauge . Since , the electromagnetic four-potential obeysConvolution with the outgoing retarded Green function gives the retarded electromagnetic potential
For the point particle, is its unique retarded proper time, characterized byThus is where the particle's worldline intersects the past light cone of the observation event ; the displayed expression is the covariant form of the Lienard-Wiechert potentials.
On the -axis put . The retarded time is . For the circular orbit, the spatial velocity at that time isBecause the displacement from the retarded source point to the observation point is orthogonal to this velocity, , while . The factors of cancel, leaving
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 4 37E b ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
A radial null geodesic satisfiesso for the outgoing rayThe coordinate-time interval is thereforeThe stationary observer at measures proper time . Hence

