Brane Effects on Extra Dimensional Scenarios: A Tale of Two Gravitons

Abstract

We analyze the propagation of a scalar field in multidimensional theories which include kinetic corrections in the brane, as a prototype for gravitational interactions in a four dimensional brane located in a (nearly) flat extra dimensional bulk. We regularize the theory by introducing an infrared cutoff given by the size of the extra dimensions and a physical ultraviolet cutoff of the order of the fundamental Planck scale in the higher dimensional theory. We show that, contrary to recent suggestions, the radius of the extra dimensions cannot be arbitrarily large. Moreover, for finite radii, the gravitational effects localized on the brane can substantially alter the phenomenology of collider and/or table-top gravitational experiments. This phenomenology is dictated by the presence of a massless graviton, with standard couplings to the matter fields, and a massive graviton which couples to matter in a much stronger way. While graviton KK modes lighter than the massive graviton couple to matter in a standard way, the couplings to matter of the heavier KK modes are strongly suppressed.