Localization of 4D gravity on pure geometrical Thick branes

TL;DR

This paper presents a model of 4D gravity localization on a scalar thick brane in a 5D Weyl integrable space, avoiding orbifold restrictions and brane actions, with stable graviton modes and a non-singular scalar curvature.

Contribution

It introduces a new thick brane solution in Weyl geometry that localizes gravity without reflection symmetry or orbifold constraints, extending previous models.

Findings

Stable zero mode graviton localized on the brane

Non-singular Weyl scalar curvature along the extra dimension

Continuum of KK modes suppressed at the brane location

Abstract

We consider the generation of thick brane configurations in a pure geometric Weyl integrable 5D space time which constitutes a non-Riemannian generalization of Kaluza-Klein (KK) theory. In this framework, we show how 4D gravity can be localized on a scalar thick brane which does not necessarily respect reflection symmetry, generalizing in this way several previous models based on the Randall-Sundrum (RS) system and avoiding both, the restriction to orbifold geometries and the introduction of the branes in the action by hand. We first obtain a thick brane solution that preserves 4D Poincar'e invariance and breaks Z_2-symmetry along the extra dimension which, indeed, can be either compact or extended, and supplements brane solutions previously found by other authors. In the non-compact case, this field configuration represents a thick brane with positive energy density centered at y=c_2, whereas pairs of thick branes arise in the compact case. Remarkably, the Weylian scalar curvature is non-singular along the fifth dimension in the non-compact case, in contraposition to the RS thin brane system. We also recast the wave equations of the transverse traceless modes of the linear fluctuations of the classical background into a Schr"odinger's equation form with a volcano potential of finite bottom in both the compact and the extended cases. We solve Schr"odinger equation for the massless zero mode m^2=0 and obtain a single bound wave function which represents a stable 4D graviton. We also get a continuum gapless spectrum of KK states with m^2>0 that are suppressed at y=c_2 and turn asymptotically into plane waves.