COSMOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS AND THEIR EFFECTIVE PROPERTIES OF MATTER IN KALUZA-KLEIN THEORY

Abstract

We derive a “wave-like” class of exact cosmological solutions of the apparently empty 5D Kaluza-Klein field equations. Here by “wave-like” we mean that the solutions look like plane waves propagating in the fifth dimension. In the interpretation that the fifth dimension in Kaluza-Klein theory may induce matter in four dimensions, we then calculate the effective energy density ρ and pressure p, and study in detail the case for which the equation of state is p=γρ (where γ is an arbitrary constant). We show that for both the matter-dominated (γ=0) and radiation-dominated (γ=1/3) eras of the universe, the 4D spacetime defined by hypersurfaces of the 5D metrics are just the same as those of the standard Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models of general relativity. However, in our models the big bang is like a shock wave propagating along the fifth dimension, and different observers can measure different ages for the universe. This property may be tested using the spread in ages of astrophysical objects such as globular clusters.