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Inphysics,Kaluza–Klein theory (KK theory) is an attempt at creating aunified field theory ofgravitation andelectromagnetism based on the idea of afifth dimension of space beyond the conventional four-dimensional spacetime of general relativity. According to this proposal, there are three dimensions of space and one of time but with an additional spatial dimension in the shape of a tiny circle. The Kaluza-Klein theory is named afterTheodor Kaluza andOskar Klein. It isnot supported by experiments, but is a precursor tosupergravity and modernstring theory (in eleven-dimensional spacetime).[1]
In his 1921 article,[2] Kaluza established all the elements of the classical five-dimensional theory: theKaluza–Klein metric, theKaluza–Klein–Einstein field equations, the equations of motion, the stress–energy tensor, and the cylinder condition. With nofree parameters, it merely extends general relativity to five dimensions. One starts by hypothesizing a form of the five-dimensional Kaluza–Klein metric, where Latin indices span five dimensions. Let one also introduce the four-dimensional spacetime metric, where Greek indices span the usual four dimensions of space and time; a 4-vector identified with the electromagnetic vector potential; and a scalar field. Then decompose the 5D metric so that the 4D metric is framed by the electromagnetic vector potential, with the scalar field at the fifth diagonal. This can be visualized as
One can write more precisely
where the index indicates the fifth coordinate by convention, even though the first four coordinates are indexed with 0, 1, 2, and 3. The associated inverse metric is
This decomposition is quite general, and all terms are dimensionless. Kaluza then applies the machinery of standardgeneral relativity to this metric. The field equations are obtained from five-dimensionalEinstein equations, and the equations of motion from the five-dimensional geodesic hypothesis. The resulting field equations provide both the equations of general relativity and of electrodynamics; the equations of motion provide the four-dimensionalgeodesic equation and theLorentz force law, and one finds that electric charge is identified with motion in the fifth dimension.
The hypothesis for the metric implies an invariant five-dimensional length element:
TheKaluza–Klein–Einstein field equations of the five-dimensional theory were never adequately provided by Kaluza or Klein because they ignored thescalar field. The full Kaluza field equations are generally attributed to Thiry,[3] who obtained vacuum field equations, although Kaluza[2] originally provided a stress–energy tensor for his theory, and Thiry included a stress–energy tensor in his thesis. But as described by Gonner,[4] several independent groups worked on the field equations in the 1940s and earlier. Thiry is perhaps best known only because an English translation was provided by Applequist, Chodos, & Freund in their review book.[5] Applequist et al. also provided an English translation of Kaluza's article. Translations of the three (1946, 1947, 1948) Jordan articles can be found on theResearchGate andAcademia.edu archives.[6][7][8] The first correct English-language Kaluza field equations, including the scalar field, were provided by Williams.[9]
To obtain the 5D Kaluza–Klein–Einstein field equations, the 5DKaluza–Klein–Christoffel symbols are calculated from the 5D Kaluza–Klein metric, and the 5DKaluza–Klein–Ricci tensor is calculated from the 5Dconnections.
The classic results of Thiry and other authors presume the cylinder condition:
Without this assumption, the field equations become much more complex, providing many more degrees of freedom that can be identified with various new fields. Paul Wesson and colleagues have pursued relaxation of the cylinder condition to gain extra terms that can be identified with the matter fields,[10] for which Kaluza[2] otherwise inserted a stress–energy tensor by hand.
It has been an objection to the original Kaluza hypothesis to invoke the fifth dimension only to negate its dynamics. But Thiry argued[4] that the interpretation of the Lorentz force law in terms of a five-dimensionalgeodesic militates strongly for a fifth dimension irrespective of the cylinder condition. Most authors have therefore employed the cylinder condition in deriving the field equations. Furthermore, vacuum equations are typically assumed for which
where
and
The vacuum field equations obtained in this way by Thiry[3] and Jordan's group[6][7][8] are as follows.
The field equation for is obtained from
where and is a standard, 4Dcovariant derivative. It shows that the electromagnetic field is a source for thescalar field. Note that the scalar field cannot be set to a constant without constraining the electromagnetic field. The earlier treatments by Kaluza and Klein did not have an adequate description of the scalar field and did not realize the implied constraint on the electromagnetic field by assuming the scalar field to be constant.
The field equation for is obtained from
It has the form of the vacuum Maxwell equations if the scalar field is constant.
The field equation for the 4D Ricci tensor is obtained from
where is the standard 4D Ricci scalar.
This equation shows the remarkable result, called the "Kaluza miracle", that the precise form for theelectromagnetic stress–energy tensor emerges from the 5D vacuum equations as a source in the 4D equations: field from the vacuum. This relation allows the definitive identification of with the electromagnetic vector potential. Therefore, the field needs to be rescaled with a conversion constant such that.
The relation above shows that we must have
where is thegravitational constant, and is thepermeability of free space. In the Kaluza theory, the gravitational constant can be understood as an electromagnetic coupling constant in the metric. There is also a stress–energy tensor for the scalar field. The scalar field behaves like a variable gravitational constant, in terms of modulating the coupling of electromagnetic stress–energy to spacetime curvature. The sign of in the metric is fixed by correspondence with 4D theory so that electromagnetic energy densities are positive. It is often assumed that the fifth coordinate is spacelike in its signature in the metric.
In the presence of matter, the 5D vacuum condition cannot be assumed. Indeed, Kaluza did not assume it. The full field equations require evaluation of the 5DKaluza–Klein–Einstein tensor
as seen in the recovery of the electromagnetic stress–energy tensor above. The 5D curvature tensors are complex, and most English-language reviews contain errors in either or, as does the English translation of Thiry.[3] In 2015, a complete set of 5D curvature tensors under the cylinder condition, evaluated using tensor-algebra software, was produced.[9]
The equations of motion are obtained from the five-dimensional geodesic hypothesis[2] in terms of a 5-velocity:
This equation can be recast in several ways, and it has been studied in various forms by authors including Kaluza,[2] Pauli,[11] Gross & Perry,[12] Gegenberg & Kunstatter,[13] and Wesson & Ponce de Leon,[14] but it is instructive to convert it back to the usual 4-dimensional length element, which is related to the 5-dimensional length element as given above:
Then the 5D geodesic equation can be written[15] for the spacetime components of the 4-velocity:
The term quadratic in provides the 4Dgeodesic equation plus some electromagnetic terms:
The term linear in provides theLorentz force law:
This is another expression of the "Kaluza miracle". The same hypothesis for the 5D metric that provides electromagnetic stress–energy in the Einstein equations, also provides the Lorentz force law in the equation of motions along with the 4D geodesic equation. Yet correspondence with the Lorentz force law requires that we identify the component of 5-velocity along the fifth dimension with electric charge:
where is particle mass, and is particle electric charge. Thus electric charge is understood as motion along the fifth dimension. The fact that the Lorentz force law could be understood as a geodesic in five dimensions was to Kaluza a primary motivation for considering the five-dimensional hypothesis, even in the presence of the aesthetically unpleasing cylinder condition.
Yet there is a problem: the term quadratic in,
If there is no gradient in the scalar field, the term quadratic in vanishes. But otherwise the expression above implies
For elementary particles,. The term quadratic in should dominate the equation, perhaps in contradiction to experience. This was the main shortfall of the five-dimensional theory as Kaluza saw it,[2] and he gives it some discussion in his original article.[clarification needed]
The equation of motion for is particularly simple under the cylinder condition. Start with the alternate form of the geodesic equation, written for the covariant 5-velocity:
This means that under the cylinder condition, is a constant of the five-dimensional motion:
Kaluza proposed[2] a five-dimensional matterstress tensor of the form
where is a density, and the length element is as defined above.
Then the spacetime component gives a typical"dust" stress–energy tensor:
The mixed component provides a 4-current source for the Maxwell equations:
Just as the five-dimensional metric comprises the four-dimensional metric framed by the electromagnetic vector potential, the five-dimensional stress–energy tensor comprises the four-dimensional stress–energy tensor framed by the vector 4-current.
Kaluza's original hypothesis was purely classical and extended discoveries of general relativity. By the time of Klein's contribution, the discoveries of Heisenberg, Schrödinger, andLouis de Broglie were receiving a lot of attention. Klein'sNature article[16] suggested that the fifth dimension is closed and periodic, and that the identification of electric charge with motion in the fifth dimension can be interpreted as standing waves of wavelength, much like the electrons around a nucleus in theBohr model of the atom. The quantization of electric charge could then be nicely understood in terms of integer multiples of fifth-dimensional momentum. Combining the previous Kaluza result for in terms of electric charge, and ade Broglie relation for momentum, Klein obtained[16] an expression for the 0th mode of such waves:
where is thePlanck constant. Klein found that cm, and thereby an explanation for the cylinder condition in this small value.
Klein'sZeitschrift für Physik article of the same year,[17] gave a more detailed treatment that explicitly invoked the techniques of Schrödinger and de Broglie. It recapitulated much of the classical theory of Kaluza described above, and then departed into Klein's quantum interpretation. Klein solved a Schrödinger-like wave equation using an expansion in terms of fifth-dimensional waves resonating in the closed, compact fifth dimension.

In 1926, Oskar Klein proposed that the fourth spatial dimension is curled up in a circle of a very smallradius, so that aparticle moving a short distance along that axis would return to where it began. The distance a particle can travel before reaching its initial position is said to be the size of the dimension. This extra dimension is acompact set, and construction of this compact dimension is referred to ascompactification.
In modern geometry, the extra fifth dimension can be understood to be thecircle groupU(1), aselectromagnetism can essentially be formulated as agauge theory on afiber bundle, thecircle bundle, withgauge group U(1). In Kaluza–Klein theory this group suggests that gauge symmetry is the symmetry of circular compact dimensions. Once this geometrical interpretation is understood, it is relatively straightforward to replace U(1) by a generalLie group. Such generalizations are often calledYang–Mills theories. If a distinction is drawn, then it is that Yang–Mills theories occur on a flat spacetime, whereas Kaluza–Klein treats the more general case of curved spacetime. The base space of Kaluza–Klein theory need not be four-dimensional spacetime; it can be any (pseudo-)Riemannian manifold, or even asupersymmetric manifold ororbifold or even anoncommutative space.
The construction can be outlined, roughly, as follows.[18] One starts by considering aprincipal fiber bundleP withgauge groupG over amanifold M. Given aconnection on the bundle, and ametric on the base manifold, and a gauge invariant metric on the tangent of each fiber, one can construct abundle metric defined on the entire bundle. Computing thescalar curvature of this bundle metric, one finds that it is constant on each fiber: this is the "Kaluza miracle". One did not have to explicitly impose a cylinder condition, or to compactify: by assumption, the gauge group is already compact. Next, one takes this scalar curvature as theLagrangian density, and, from this, constructs theEinstein–Hilbert action for the bundle, as a whole. The equations of motion, theEuler–Lagrange equations, can be then obtained by considering where the action isstationary with respect to variations of either the metric on the base manifold, or of the gauge connection. Variations with respect to the base metric gives theEinstein field equations on the base manifold, with theenergy–momentum tensor given by thecurvature (field strength) of the gauge connection. On the flip side, the action is stationary against variations of the gauge connection precisely when the gauge connection solves theYang–Mills equations. Thus, by applying a single idea: theprinciple of least action, to a single quantity: the scalar curvature on the bundle (as a whole), one obtains simultaneously all of the needed field equations, for both the spacetime and the gauge field.
As an approach to the unification of the forces, it is straightforward to apply the Kaluza–Klein theory in an attempt to unify gravity with thestrong andelectroweak forces by using the symmetry group of theStandard Model,SU(3) ×SU(2) ×U(1). However, an attempt to convert this interesting geometrical construction into a bona-fide model of reality flounders on a number of issues, including the fact that thefermions must be introduced in an artificial way (in nonsupersymmetric models). Nonetheless, KK remains an importanttouchstone in theoretical physics and is often embedded in more sophisticated theories. It is studied in its own right as an object of geometric interest inK-theory.
Even in the absence of a completely satisfying theoretical physics framework, the idea of exploring extra, compactified, dimensions is of considerable interest in theexperimental physics andastrophysics communities. A variety of predictions, with real experimental consequences, can be made (in the case oflarge extra dimensions andwarped models). For example, on the simplest of principles, one might expect to havestanding waves in the extra compactified dimension(s). If a spatial extra dimension is of radiusR, the invariantmass of such standing waves would beMn =nh/Rc withn aninteger,h being thePlanck constant andc thespeed of light. This set of possible mass values is often called theKaluza–Klein tower. Similarly, inThermal quantum field theory a compactification of the euclidean time dimension leads to theMatsubara frequencies and thus to a discretized thermal energy spectrum.
However, Klein's approach to a quantum theory is flawed[citation needed] and, for example, leads to a calculated electron mass in the order of magnitude of thePlanck mass.[19]
Examples of experimental pursuits include work by theCDF collaboration, which has re-analyzedparticle collider data for the signature of effects associated with large extra dimensions/warped models.[citation needed]
Robert Brandenberger andCumrun Vafa have speculated that in the early universe,cosmic inflation causes three of the space dimensions to expand to cosmological size while the remaining dimensions of space remained microscopic.[20]
One particular variant of Kaluza–Klein theory isspace–time–matter theory orinduced matter theory, chiefly promulgated byPaul Wesson and other members of the Space–Time–Matter Consortium.[21] In this version of the theory, it is noted that solutions to the equation
may be re-expressed so that in four dimensions, these solutions satisfyEinstein's equations
with the precise form of theTμν following from theRicci-flat condition on the five-dimensional space. In other words, the cylinder condition of the previous development is dropped, and the stress–energy now comes from the derivatives of the 5D metric with respect to the fifth coordinate. Because theenergy–momentum tensor is normally understood to be due to concentrations of matter in four-dimensional space, the above result is interpreted as saying that four-dimensional matter is induced from geometry in five-dimensional space.
In particular, thesoliton solutions of can be shown to contain theFriedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric in both radiation-dominated (early universe) and matter-dominated (later universe) forms. The general equations can be shown to be sufficiently consistent with classicaltests of general relativity to be acceptable on physical principles, while still leaving considerable freedom to also provide interestingcosmological models.
The Kaluza–Klein theory has a particularly elegant presentation in terms of geometry. In a certain sense, it looks just like ordinary gravity infree space, except that it is phrased in five dimensions instead of four.
The equations governing ordinary gravity in free space can be obtained from anaction, by applying thevariational principle to a certainaction. LetM be a (pseudo-)Riemannian manifold, which may be taken as thespacetime ofgeneral relativity. Ifg is themetric on this manifold, one defines theactionS(g) as
whereR(g) is thescalar curvature, and vol(g) is thevolume element. By applying thevariational principle to the action
one obtains precisely theEinstein equations for free space:
whereRij is theRicci tensor.
By contrast, theMaxwell equations describingelectromagnetism can be understood to be theHodge equations of aprincipal-bundle orcircle bundle with fiber. That is, theelectromagnetic field is aharmonic 2-form in the space of differentiable2-forms on the manifold. In the absence of charges and currents, the free-field Maxwell equations are
where is theHodge star operator.
To build the Kaluza–Klein theory, one picks an invariant metric on the circle that is the fiber of the U(1)-bundle of electromagnetism. In this discussion, aninvariant metric is simply one that is invariant under rotations of the circle. Suppose that this metric gives the circle a total length. One then considers metrics on the bundle that are consistent with both the fiber metric, and the metric on the underlying manifold. The consistency conditions are:
The Kaluza–Klein action for such a metric is given by
The scalar curvature, written in components, then expands to
where is thepullback of the fiber bundle projection. The connection on the fiber bundle is related to the electromagnetic field strength as
That there always exists such a connection, even for fiber bundles of arbitrarily complex topology, is a result fromhomology and specifically,K-theory. ApplyingFubini's theorem and integrating on the fiber, one gets
Varying the action with respect to the component, one regains the Maxwell equations. Applying the variational principle to the base metric, one gets the Einstein equations
with theelectromagnetic stress–energy tensor being given by
The original theory identifies with the fiber metric and allows to vary from fiber to fiber. In this case, the coupling between gravity and the electromagnetic field is not constant, but has its own dynamical field, theradion.
In the above, the size of the loop acts as a coupling constant between the gravitational field and the electromagnetic field. If the base manifold is four-dimensional, the Kaluza–Klein manifoldP is five-dimensional. The fifth dimension is acompact space and is called thecompact dimension. The technique of introducing compact dimensions to obtain a higher-dimensional manifold is referred to ascompactification. Compactification does not produce group actions onchiralfermions except in very specific cases: the dimension of the total space must be 2 mod 8, and the G-index of the Dirac operator of the compact space must be nonzero.[22]
The above development generalizes in a more-or-less straightforward fashion to generalprincipalG-bundles for some arbitraryLie groupG taking the place ofU(1). In such a case, the theory is often referred to as aYang–Mills theory and is sometimes taken to be synonymous. If the underlying manifold issupersymmetric, the resulting theory is a super-symmetric Yang–Mills theory.
Theodor Kaluza proposed the possibility of unifying gravitation with electromagnetism in a paper he sent toAlbert Einstein in 1919.[23]: 329–30 (Gunnar Nordström published a similar idea in 1914. But in that case, a fifth component was added to the electromagnetic vector potential, a scalar representing the Newtonian gravitational potential, and writing the Maxwell equations in five dimensions.[24][23]: 329 But this had to be abandoned because it could not account forgravitational lensing.[1]) Einstein wrote back, saying he liked the idea "enormously" but was not entirely convinced. But two years later, Einstein finally agreed to present Kaluza's paper to thePrussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin.[1][25]: 197 Kaluza published it in the same year.[2] Kaluza presented a purely classical extension ofgeneral relativity to five dimensions of space and time, with a metrictensor of 15 components. Correspondingly, the five-dimensional framework produced four-dimensionalEinstein field equations of gravitation,Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism, and an equation for the scalar field representing a hypothetical particle called thedilaton. Kaluza also introduced the "cylinder condition" hypothesis, that no component of the five-dimensional metric depends on the fifth dimension. Without this restriction, terms are introduced that involve derivatives of the fields with respect to the fifth coordinate, and this extra degree of freedom makes the mathematics of the fully variable 5D relativity enormously complex. Standard 4D physics seems to manifest this "cylinder condition" and, along with it, simpler mathematics.
In 1926,Oskar Klein extended Kaluza's five-dimensional classical field theory by suggesting that the fifth dimension of space had to do with quantization.[17][16][23]: 331–2 Klein introduced the hypothesis that the fifth dimension was curled up and microscopic, to explain the cylinder condition. Klein suggested that the geometry of the extra fifth dimension could take the form of a circle, with the radius of10−30 cm. More precisely, the radius of the circular dimension is 23 times thePlanck length, which in turn is of the order of10−33 cm.[16] Klein also made a contribution to the classical theory by providing a properly normalized 5D metric.[17] Klein argued that solutions to theSchrödinger equation in five dimensions could be interpreted aswaves or particles moving under the influence of electromagnetism and gravity in four-dimensional spacetime.[1] However, in the original papers by Kaluza and Klein, it was not clear whether the hypothetical fifth dimension was merely a mathematical artifice or physically real.[1] Einstein,Wolfgang Pauli,Peter Bergmann, andValentine Bargmann explored the Kaluza-Klein theory further during the 1930s and early 1940s.[1][23]: 334–6, 347 (At this time, Einstein and a number of other physicists and mathematicians were exploring various possibilities of formulating unified field theories.[26][23]: 341–51 )
In the 1940s, the classical theory was completed, and the full field equations including the scalar field were obtained by three independent research groups:[4] Yves Thiry,[27][3][28] working in France on his dissertation underAndré Lichnerowicz;Pascual Jordan, Günther Ludwig, and Claus Müller in Germany,[6][7][29][8][30] with critical input from Pauli andMarkus Fierz; andPaul Scherrer[31][32][33] working alone in Switzerland. Jordan's work led to the scalar–tensor theory ofBrans–Dicke;[34]Carl H. Brans andRobert H. Dicke were apparently unaware of Thiry or Scherrer. The curvature tensors for the complete Kaluza equations were evaluated usingtensor-algebra software in 2015,[9] verifying results of J. A. Ferrari[35] and R. Coquereaux & G. Esposito-Farese.[36] The 5D covariant form of the energy–momentum source terms is treated by L. L. Williams.[37]
However, most theoretical physicists who were initially interested in the Kaluza-Klein theory ultimately lost interest because it was in sharp disagreement with experimental results.[25]: 197 All other attempts to generalizeRiemannian geometry in order to unify electromagnetism and gravitation have also failed.[38]: 1135 But the basic idea of unification of the fundamental forces using higher dimensions of space was revived during the 1970s with the arrival of string theory and supergravity.[1]
The Kaluza–Klein theory's prediction ofelectron mass is off by a factor of about 1018.[39]
No experimental or observational signs of extra dimensions have been officially reported. Many theoretical search techniques for detecting Kaluza–Klein resonances have been proposed using the mass couplings of such resonances with thetop quark. An analysis of results from theLarge Hadron Collider (LHC) in December 2010 severely constrains theories withlarge extra dimensions.[40]
Observations of the gravitational-wave eventGW170817 refuted the hypothesis that gravity is leaking into higher dimensions as inbrane theory.Gravitational waves propagate in (3+1)-dimensional spacetime.[41][42]