Particle Masses and the Cosmological 'Constant' in Five Dimensions

TL;DR

This paper explores five-dimensional general relativity to understand how particle masses and the cosmological 'constant' might vary, proposing that particles are photon-like in 5D and that the 'constant' could be a gauge term related to mass.

Contribution

It introduces a framework in 5D relativity showing how particle masses and the cosmological 'constant' could be variable and related to extra-dimensional effects.

Findings

Particles may be photon-like traveling on null paths in 5D.

Massive particles are perturbations of the extra dimension.

The cosmological 'constant' can be a gauge term proportional to mass squared.

Abstract

I give metrics and equations of motion in 5D general relativity, and use the conservation of momentum and conformal transformations to study the possible variability of particle masses and the cosmological 'constant'. It is feasible that all particles are photon-like and travel on null paths in 5D, that massive particles are perturbations of the extra dimension which intrude into 4D, and that the cosmological 'constant' is a 5D / 4D gauge term. In the simplest case, a particle has a local cosmological 'constant' whose magnitude is proportional to the square of the mass.