On degenerate metrics, dark matter and unification

Abstract: A five-dimensional theory of relativity is presented which suggests that gravitation and electromagnetism may be unified using a degenerate metric. There are four fields (in the four-dimensional sense): a tensor field, two vector fields and a scalar field, and they are unified with a combination of a gauge-like invariance and a reflection symmetry which means that both vector fields are photons. The gauge-like invariance implies that the fifth dimension is not directly observable; it also implies that charge is a constant of motion. The scalar field is analogous to the Brans-Dicke scalar field, and the theory tends towards the Einstein-Maxwell theory in the limit as the coupling constant tends to infinity. As there is some scope for fields to vary in the fifth dimension it is possible for the photons to have wave behaviour in the fifth dimension. The wave behaviour has two effects: it gives the photons mass, and it prevents them from interacting directly with normal matter. These massive photons still act as a source of gravity, however, and therefore they are candidates for dark matter.