Copyright © 1982 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Instability of the Kaluza-Klein vacuum*1
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.
Article Outline
*1 Supported in part by NSF grant PHY80-19754.






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