Abstract. The classical tests of general relativity (perihelion precession, deflection of light and the radar echo delay) are considered for the Dadhich, Maartens, Papadopoulos and Rezania (DMPR) solution of the spherically symmetric static vacuum field equations in brane world models. For this solution the metric in the vacuum exterior to a brane world star is similar to the Reissner–Nordström form of classical general relativity, with the role of the charge played by the tidal effects arising from projections of the fifth dimension. The existing observational solar system data on the perihelion shift of Mercury, on the light bending around the Sun (obtained using long-baseline radio interferometry), and ranging to Mars using the Viking lander, constrain the numerical values of the bulk tidal parameter and of the brane tension.

PACS numbers: 04.80.Cc, 04.50.+h, 04.80.−y

Print publication: Issue 4 (21 February 2008)
Received 17 October 2007, in final form 6 January 2008
Published 5 February 2008