Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 309 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The rotational Killing vector fields of the spherical symmetry conserve the angular-momentum vector. Its direction is fixed, so every nonradial orbit lies in the plane through the symmetry centre orthogonal to that vector. A spatial rotation can make this the equatorial plane. Equivalently, the initial conditions and solve the equation uniquely. This is the planarity of geodesics in spherical symmetry; a radial geodesic has zero angular momentum and may be assigned any plane.
On , the cyclic coordinates and produce geodesic conserved quantities from Killing vectors,For a timelike geodesic parametrized by proper time, the proper-time normalization is . Substitution of and gives the first-order radial equationThis is the timelike geodesic effective potential for static Anti-de Sitter spacetime with curvature radius one.
A geodesic passing through must have . If it moves away from the origin, , andTaking proper time at departure givesIt turns around at and first returns to the origin atThis energy-independent refocusing is the characteristic radial timelike geodesic in anti-de Sitter spacetime result; for curvature radius , the answer is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 309 1 d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Use proper time , so . The first integral becomesFor an outward geodesic starting at the origin,until it next reaches . This occurs atThus every radial timelike geodesic in anti-de Sitter spacetime through the origin returns after the same proper time; restoring anti-de Sitter radius gives .
Curvature contractions. Use the index contraction stipulated in the question. In three dimensions,The same contraction in four dimensions givesThen the Ricci scalar is and the Einstein tensor is . Thus is precisely the vacuum Einstein field equations .
The static solution. For , and . The given Ricci tensor components becomeEach equals times the corresponding metric tensor component. ThereforeThis is Anti-de Sitter spacetime in static coordinates on anti-de Sitter spacetime, with curvature radius . The overall metric signature is opposite to the convention used in some descriptions of those coordinates; the geodesic constants below use the question's convention.
Conserved quantities and radial motion. In the equatorial plane, the geodesic Lagrangian is . Its cyclic coordinates giveFor rest mass , is the conserved Killing energy and is the axial angular momentum. Timelike normalization givesFor purely radial motion , differentiating away from a turning point gives , and continuity extends that equation through the turning point. An outward launch from the origin at hasThis is the radial timelike geodesic in anti-de Sitter spacetime. Its first return to the origin isindependent of the outward launch speed for every nontrivial launch . The coordinate is nonnegative, so this sine expression describes the excursion up to that return; subsequent passage through the origin requires changing the radial direction or using a signed diameter coordinate. The speed changes the amplitude, not the harmonic frequency.
Circular periods. The effective radial potential is . For a circle at , gives , and normalization gives . Thus and . A stable circular timelike geodesic in anti-de Sitter spacetime therefore hasindependently of radius. This is the same isochronous behavior as the central harmonic radial equation. A static clock placed at the orbit's radius instead measures , which does depend on radius; it is a different clock from the orbiting particle's proper time.
