The augmentation of general relativity’s spacetime by one or more dimensions is described by Kaluza-Klein theory and is within testable limits. Should an extra dimension be observable and significant, it would be beneficial to know how physical properties would differ from “conventional” relativity. In examining the class of five-dimensional solutions analogous to the four-dimensional Schwarzschild solution, we examine where the origin to the system is located and note that it can differ from the four-dimensional case. Furthermore, we study circular orbits and find that the 5D case is much richer; photons can have stable circular orbits in some instances, and stable orbits can exist right to the new origin in others. Finally, we derive both gravitational and inertial masses and find that they do not generally agree, although they can in a limiting case. For all three examinations, it is possible to obtain the four-dimensional results in one limiting case, that of the Schwarzschild solution plus a flat fifth dimension, and that the differences between 4D and 5D occur when the fifth dimension obtains any sort of significance.
Harmonic Expansions of Fields and Fermion Mass Problem in Generalized Kaluza-Klein Theory
