BSc/MSci EXAMINATION

Wednesday 8th June 2011 14:30 - 17:00

PHY-308: Space Time and Gravity

Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes

You are not permitted to read the contents of this question paper until instructed
to do so by an invigilator.

Answer ALL questions in section A. Answer ONLY TWO questions from section
B. Section A carries 50 marks, each question in section B carries 25 marks. An
indicative marking-scheme is shown in square brackets [ ] after each part of a
question. Course work comprises 20% of the final mark. An Appendix to this
paper contains data and information that may be used in answers. Unless otherwise
stated units are used such that the velocity of light, c = 1.

CALCULATORS ARE PERMITTED IN THIS EXAMINATION. PLEASE STATE ON YOUR

ANSWER BOOK THE NAME AND TYPE OF MACHINE USED. COMPLETE ALL ROUGH
WORKINGS IN THE ANSWER BOOK AND CROSS THROUGH ANY WORK WHICH IS
NOT TO BE ASSESSED.

IMPORTANT NOTE: THE ACADEMIC REGULATIONS STATE THAT POSSESSION OF

UNAUTHORISED MATERIAL AT ANY TIME WHEN A STUDENT IS UNDER EXAMI-
NATION CONDITIONS IS AN ASSESSMENT OFFENCE AND CAN LEAD TO EXPUL-
SION FROM THE COLLEGE. PLEASE CHECK NOW TO ENSURE YOU DO NOT HAVE
ANY NOTES IN YOUR POSSESSION. IF YOU HAVE ANY THEN PLEASE RAISE YOUR
HAND AND GIVE THEM TO AN INVIGILATOR IMMEDIATELY.

EXAM PAPERS CANNOT BE REMOVED FROM THE EXAM ROOM

Examiners: Dr D Berman and Dr G Travaglini

c Queen Mary, University of London 2011

 SECTION A. Attempt answers to ALL questions in Section A.

A 1 State the Principle of Equivalence. [5]

A 2 Explain in words why we need a definition of intrinsic curvature and give an example of
a definition in two dimensions. [5]

A 3 What is the change in the proper time along a light like path? For a spacetime described
by:
ds2 = tan(t)2 dt2 + sin(t)2 dr2 ,
what is the effective speed of light at t = 0? [5]

A 4 Why do we need a covariant derivative? Write down the covariant derivative acting on
a covariant vector field. What is the covariant derivative of the metric? [5]

A 5 Consider a black hole:

i) How does the horizon radius depend on the mass? [2]
ii) What is the Ricci tensor just outside the horizon of the black hole? [3]

A 6 What are geodesics? Describe two ways in which they can be defined. [5]

A 7 State the cosmological principle? [5]

A 8 Consider an object freely falling into a black hole:

i) To an observer watching at infinity, how long does it take for the object to pass through
the horizon of a black hole? [2]
ii) If the falling object is emitting radiation as it falls, what will the observer at infinity
notice about the radiation? [3]

A 9 Describe in a few lines two observations that confirmed the predictions made by general
relativity. [5]

A 10 Explain in words the idea behind Kaluza-Klein theory. [5]

c Queen Mary, University of London 2011

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 SECTION B. Answer only TWO of the four questions in section B.

B1. The line element of a three dimensional space is given by:

ds2 = exp(ky) dx dx + dy 2

where , indices run from 1 to 2 and is the two dimensional Minkowski metric.

i) Write down the metric and its inverse. [5]

ii) Calculate all the Christoffel symbols for this space. [9]

You may use:

1
= g ( g + g g ) .
2

iii) Write out the geodesic equations for the space described above. [5]
dy
iv) Solve the geodesic equations assuming ds
= a, where a is a constant. [6]

B2. For a blackhole whose mass is equal to that of the sun,

i) Write out the metric. [2]

ii) What is the area of the blackhole horizon? [3]

iii) Derive quantitatively how the light cone changes as one approaches the horizon from infinity
and then what happens inside the horizon. [6]

iv) Derive the formula for the gravitational redshift. [6]

v) An atomic clock is placed one Schwarzshild radius away from the horizon. How much slower
does the clock run as compared to a clock at infinity? [4]

vi) From dimensional analysis, what is the magnitude of the Riemann tensor at the blackhole
horizon? [4]
B3.

i) What is the relativistic generalisation of the Newtonian tidal equation and how can it be
used to define the geometric properties of space time? [5]

ii) Use the definition of the Riemann curvature in terms of the commutator of covariant deriva-
tives to derive the formula for the Riemann curvature in terms of Christoffel symbols and their
derivatives. [10]

iii) Conformal matter is that for which the stress-energy tensor is traceless, i.e.

g T = 0 .

Use Einsteins equations to show that this equation implies that a spacetime containing only
conformal matter has vanishing Ricci scalar curvature. [5]

iv) What constraint is there on covariant derivatives of the Riemann tensor? [5]

B4. The flat FRW universe is described by the following line element:

ds2 = dt2 + R(t)2 (d 2 + 2 d2(2) ) .

i) For a matter dominated universe, use conservation of energy to derive an equation relating
R(t) and (t). [5]

ii) Describe the behaviour of R(t) in a cosmological constant dominated universe. [3]

iii) The FRW equations (with vanishing cosmological constant) for the scale factor R(t) gov-
erning a flat expanding universe are given by:

3R 2 + R 2 )
(2RR
= 8 , = 8p .
R2 R2
Suppose the universe was found in some epoch to be expanding such that:

R(t) = R0 tq .

Derive the equation of state of the matter in the universe during this epoch. [6]

iv) What is the Hubble constant? And what would it be for such a universe and why is it
misnamed. [6]

v) The apparent radius of the universe is given by the distance for which the recession velocity
from Hubbles law is the speed of light. What is the volume of the apparent universe as a
function of time in the epoch described in B4(iii). [5]

End of Paper - An Appendix of 1 page follows

 Appendix

You may wish to use the following information:-

Gravitational constant G = 6.67 1011 Nm2 kg2
Speed of light c = 3.0 108 ms1
Mass of Sun Msun = 1.99 1030 kg

c Queen Mary, University of London 2011

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