Conceptual introduction to signature change through a natural extension of Kaluza-Klein theory
Phys. Rev. D 112, 124081 – Published 26 December, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tlqr-v678
Abstract
We propose an extension of basic Kaluza-Klein theory in which the higher-dimensional Lorentzian manifold develops a Cauchy horizon rather than remaining globally hyperbolic as in the conventional framework. In this setting, the -generating Killing field, assumed to exist in Kaluza-Klein theory, undergoes a transition in its causal character, from spacelike in the globally hyperbolic region to timelike in an acausal extension through a horizon. This yields a (lower-dimensional) quotient manifold whose metric changes signature from Lorentzian to Riemannian. In this way, one observes a singular, signature changing transition emerging rather naturally from the projection of a globally smooth, even analytic, Lorentzian geometry “up in the bundle.” This reveals a “signature change without signature change” scenario—a phrasing inspired by John Wheeler—and extends the usual Kaluza-Klein framework in a conceptually natural direction.