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Nuclear Physics B
Volume 195, Issue 3, 22 February 1982, Pages 481-492
 
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doi:10.1016/0550-3213(82)90007-4    
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Copyright © 1982 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Instability of the Kaluza-Klein vacuum*1

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Edward Witten

Joseph Henry Laboratories, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA


Received 2 June 1981. 
Available online 18 October 2002.

Abstract

It is argued that the ground state of the Kaluza-Klein unified theory is unstable against a process of semiclassical barrier penetration. This is related to the fact that the positive energy conjecture does not hold for the Kaluza-Klein theory; an explicit counter-example is given. The reasoning presented here assumes that in general relativity one should include manifolds of non-vacuum topology. It is argued that the existence of elementary fermions (not present in the original Kaluza-Klein theory) would stabilize the Kaluza-Klein vacuum.

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*1 Supported in part by NSF grant PHY80-19754.


Nuclear Physics B
Volume 195, Issue 3, 22 February 1982, Pages 481-492
 
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