Spherically Symmetric Solutions and Dark Matter on the Brane

TL;DR

This paper explores static, spherically symmetric solutions in a brane-world scenario, suggesting that the five-dimensional Weyl tensor could account for dark matter effects observed in our universe.

Contribution

It provides new solutions to Einstein's equations on a brane, highlighting the role of the Weyl tensor in explaining dark matter phenomena.

Findings

Weyl term can mimic dark matter effects

Solutions differ based on five-dimensional spacetime properties

Not all solutions are Schwarzschild-like

Abstract

It has recently been suggested that our universe is a three-brane embedded in a higher dimensional spacetime. In this paper I examine static, spherically symmetric solutions that satisfy the effective Einstein field equations on a brane embedded in a five dimensional spacetime. The field equations involve a term depending on the five dimensional Weyl tensor, so that the solutions will not be Schwarzschild in general. This Weyl term is traceless so that any solution of $^{(4)}R=0$ is a possible four dimensional spacetime. Different solutions correspond to different five dimensional spacetimes and to different induced energy-momentum tensors on the brane. One interesting possibility is that the Weyl term could be responsible for the observed dark matter in the universe.