Five-Dimensional General Relativity and Kaluza–Klein Theory

In five-dimensional gravity, we consider spaces admitting a family of maximally symmetric three-dimensional subspaces. We construct five-dimensional vacuum Einstein equations and introduce the analogue of the five-dimensional mass function for these spaces. The charge conservation law for this function results in the five-dimensional analogue of the Birkhoff theorem. Hence, for the spaces under consideration, the cylindricity condition is realized dynamically. For some of the obtained metrics, the regularity condition results in the closedness of the fifth coordinate. We can then relate the period of the fifth coordinate with the value of the conserved charge. We discuss the problem of separating dynamical degrees of freedom of scalar and gravitational fields obtained when reducing the initial five-dimensional action to the four-dimensional form and the related problem of the conformal ambiguity of the four-metric gauge. The parameterization of the scalar field and the four-metric that results in a conformally invariant theory of interacting scalar and gravitational fields seems most natural.