Linearized Five Dimensional Kaluza-Klein Theory as a Gauge Theory

Abstract

We develop a linearized five dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory as a gauge theory. By perturbing the metric around flat and the De Sitter backgrounds, we first discuss linearized gravity as a gauge theory in any dimension. In the particular case of five dimensions, we show that using the Kaluza-Klein mechanism, the field equations of our approach implies both linearized gauge gravity and Maxwell theory in flat and the De Sitter scenarios. As a possible further development of our formalism, we also discuss an application in the context of a gravitational polarization scattering by means of the analogue of the Mueller matrix in optical polarization algebra. We argue that this application can be of particular interest in gravitational waves experiments.