Perihelion precession in spherically symmetric Kaluza-Klein theories

Abstract

We consider the perihelion precession and bending of light in a class of Kaluza-Klein models and show that the "electric redshift" model, proposed in Zhang (2006) to explain the redshift of Quasars, does not agree with observations. As Zhang's model only considers the Jordan frame, we also compute the perihelion precession as seen in the Einstein frame and show that, to lowest order, the perihelion precession can only be consistent with observation in the Einstein frame. However, when we consider the corresponding "electric redshift" in the Einstein frame, we find that the redshift is significantly lower than for the Jordan frame and is therefore very unlikely to explain the redshift of quasars.