Astrophysical evidence for an extra dimension: phenomenology of a Kaluza Klein theory

TL;DR

This paper reviews the astrophysical implications of a five-dimensional Kaluza Klein theory, comparing its predictions with standard astrophysics and identifying potential observable discrepancies.

Contribution

It provides an overview of astrophysical phenomenology in a Kaluza Klein model, analyzing stability, stellar models, and emission spectra in a multidimensional framework.

Findings

Finite discrepancies with four-dimensional astrophysics predictions

Potential detectability of extra dimension effects in observations

Analysis of stability and emission spectra in five-dimensional spacetimes

Abstract

In this brief review we discuss the viability of a multidimensional geometrical theory with one compactified dimension. We discuss the case of a Kaluza Klein fifth dimensional theory, addressing the problem by an overview of the astrophysical phenomenology associated with this five dimensional theory. By comparing the predictions of our model with the features of the ordinary (four dimensional) Relativistic Astrophysics, we highlight some small but finite discrepancies, expectably detectible from the observations. We consider a class of static, vacuum solutions of free electromagnetic Kaluza Klein equations with three dimensional spherical symmetry. We explore the stability of the particle dynamics in these spacetimes, the construction of self gravitating stellar models and the emission spectrum generated by a charged particle falling on this stellar object. The matter dynamics in these geometries has been treated by a multipole approach adapted to the geometric theory with a compactified dimension.