De Sitter brane-world, localization of gravity, and the cosmological constant

Abstract

Cosmological models with a de Sitter 3-brane embedded in a five-dimensional de Sitter spacetime (dS5) give rise to a finite 4D Planck mass similar to that in Randall-Sundrum (RS) brane-world models in AdS5 spacetime. Yet there arise a few important differences as compared to the results with a flat 3-brane or 4D Minkowski spacetime. For example, the mass reduction formula (MRF) $M_{Pl}^2=M_{5}^3 \ell_{AdS}$ as well as the relationship $M_{Pl}^2= M_{Pl(4+n)}^{n+2} L^{n}$ (with $L$ being the average size or the radius of the $n$ extra dimensions) expected in models of product-space (or Kaluza-Klein) compactifications get modified in cosmological backgrounds. In an expanding universe, a physically relevant MRF encodes information upon the four-dimensional Hubble expansion parameter, in addition to the length and mass parameters $L$, $M_{Pl}$ and $M_{Pl (4+n)}$. If a bulk cosmological constant is present in the solution, then the reduction formula is further modified. With these new insights, we show that the localization of a massless 4D graviton as well as the mass hierarchy between $M_{Pl}$ and $M_{Pl (4+n)}$ can be explained in cosmological brane-world models. A notable advantage of having a 5D de Sitter bulk is that in this case the zero-mass wavefunction is normalizable, which is not necessarily the case if the bulk spacetime is anti de Sitter. In spacetime dimensions $D\ge 7$, however, the bulk cosmological constant $\Lambda_b$ can take either sign ($\Lambda_b <0$, $=0$, or $>0$). The D=6 case is rather inconclusive, in which case $\Lambda_b$ may be introduced together with 2-form gauge field (or flux).