On spherically symmetric minimally coupled brane worlds (Q702846)

This paper studies a brane world model of the so called RS2-type [\textit{L. Randall} and \textit{R. Sundrum}, Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, No. 23, 4960--4693 (1999; Zbl 0946.81074)]. In this scenario, there is one \((3+1)\)-dimensional brane in a five-dimensional bulk which has a negative cosmological constant. Thus the asymptotic geometry of the bulk away from the brane is that of an anti-de Sitter space. The authors consider a spherically symmetric brane-world in which all fields except gravity are confined on the brane. They analyse the equations of motion of the effective gravity in four dimensions. There is a contribution from the (five-dimensional) Weyl tensor projected onto the brane \(E_{\mu\nu}\). In general it combines with a quadratic contibution of the energy-momentum tensor. A further assumption is made in which \(E_{\mu\nu}=0\). This is not the case in general, but is valid for a scalar field minimally coupled to gravity on the brane. This case is analysed, using results from the authors' earlier paper [Gen. Relat. Gravitation 35, 505--525 (2003; Zbl 1031.83019)]. The main conclusion is that the bulk metric that supports a brane-world with \(E_{\mu\nu}=0\) is of Schwarzschild-AdS type. Possibilities for certain other geometries are mentioned, but from an energy consideration, it appears that these lead to strong fields, in which the simplifying assumptions used in the analysis are not tenable.