An Experimental Test of the Classical Interpretation of the Kaluza Fifth Dimension

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Kaluza was the first to realize that the four-dimensional gravitational field of general relativity and the classical electromagnetic field behave as if they were components of a five-dimensional gravitational field. We present a novel experimental test of the macroscopic classical interpretation of the Kaluza fifth dimension. Our experiment design probes a key feature of Kaluza unification-that electric charge is identified with motion in the fifth dimension. Therefore, we tested for a time dilation effect on an electrically charged clock. This test can also be understood as a constraint on time dilation from a constant electric potential of any origin. This is only the second such test of time dilation under electric charge reported in the literature, and a null result was obtained here. We introduce the concept of a charged clock in the Kaluza context, and discuss some ambiguities in its interpretation. We conclude that a classical, macroscopic interpretation of the Kaluza fifth dimension may require a timelike signature in the five-dimensional metric, and the associated absence of a rest frame along the fifth coordinate.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)587-595
Number of pages9
JournalPhysics
Volume2
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2020
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85124948926
ORCID /0000-0002-7406-7588/work/172570931

Keywords

Keywords

  • Kaluza, charged clocks, time dilation, higher dimensions, classical fields, general relativity