English

Solar System Experiments in the Search for Dark Energy and Dark Matter

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2025-12-02 v3 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

We reassess the realistic discovery reach of Solar-System experiments for dark energy (DE) and dark matter (DM), making explicit the bridge from cosmology-level linear responses to local, screened residuals. In scalar-tensor frameworks with a universal conformal coupling A(ϕ)A(\phi) and chameleon/Vainshtein screening, we map cosmological responses {μ(z,k),Σ(z,k)}\{\mu(z,k),\Sigma(z,k)\} inferred by DESI and \emph{Euclid} to thin-shell or Vainshtein residuals in deep Solar potentials ΦN\Phi_N. We emphasize a two-branch strategy. In a detection-first branch, a verified local anomaly -- an Einstein equivalence principle (EEP) violation, a Shapiro-delay signal with γ1few×106|\gamma-1|\sim\mathrm{few}\times 10^{-6}, an AU-scale Yukawa tail, or a ultralight DM (ULDM) line in clocks/atom interferometers in space (AIS) -- triggers a joint refit of cosmology and Solar-System data under a common microphysical parameterization {V(ϕ),A(ϕ)}\{V(\phi),A(\phi)\}. In a guardrail branch, Solar-System tests enforce constraints (EEP; PPN parameters γ,β\gamma,\beta; and G˙/G\dot G/G) and close unscreened or weakly screened corners indicated by cosmology. We forecast, per conjunction, γ1(25)×106|\gamma-1|\lesssim (2-5)\times 10^{-6} (Ka-/X-band or optical Shapiro), ηEEP(1\mbox10)×1017\eta_{EEP}\sim (1\mbox{--}10)\times 10^{-17} (drag-free AIS), G˙/G(35)×1015yr1|\dot G/G|\sim(3-5)\times10^{-15}\,\mathrm{yr^{-1}} (sub-mm-class LLR), a uniform ~2x tightening of AU-scale Yukawa/DM-density bounds, and (310)×(3-10)\times improved ULDM-coupling reach from clocks. For a conformal benchmark, μlin,0=0.10\mu_{ lin,0}=0.10 implies χμlin,0/2\chi\simeq \sqrt{\mu_{lin,0}/2} and a Sun thin shell ΔR/R(1/3χ)γ1/2=2.4×103\Delta R/R\lesssim (1/3\chi)\sqrt{|\gamma-1|/2}=2.4\times 10^{-3} at γ1=5×106|\gamma-1|=5\times 10^{-6}; Vainshtein screening at 1 AU yields γ11011|\gamma-1|\lesssim 10^{-11}, naturally below near-term reach. We recommend a cost-effective guardrail+discovery portfolio with explicit triggers for escalation to dedicated missions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2509.05910,
  title  = {Solar System Experiments in the Search for Dark Energy and Dark Matter},
  author = {Slava G. Turyshev},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.05910},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

32 pages, 4 figures, 12 tables