Xanthopoulos Theorem in the Kaluza–Klein Theory

It is shown that if _AB is an exact solution of the Einstein vacuum field equations in 4 + 1 dimensions, R^ _AB = 0, and l _A is a null vector field, then _AB + l _A l _B is also an exact solution of the Einstein equations R^ _AB = 0 if and only if the perturbation l _A l _B satisfies the Einstein equations linearized about _AB. Then, making use of the Kaluza–Klein approach, it is shown that this result allows us to obtain exact solutions of the Einstein–Maxwell equations (possibly coupled to a scalar field) by solving a system of linear equations.