Is the electric charge conserved in brane world?

S. L. Dubovsky, V. A. Rubakov, P. G. Tinyakov

Published 2000-07-17, updated 2000-07-18Version 2

We discuss whether electric charge conservation may not hold in four-dimensional world in models with infinite extra dimensions, i.e., whether escape of charged particles from our brane is consistent with effectively four-dimensional electrodynamics on the brane. We introduce a setup with photon localized on the brane and show that charge leakage into extra dimension is allowed within this setup. The electric field induced on the brane by escaping charge does not obey four-dimensional Maxwell's equations; this field gradually disappears in a causal way. We also speculate on the possibility of the escape of colored particles and formation of colorless free quark states on the brane.