Related papers: Designing dark energy afterglow experiments
A scalar field dark energy candidate could couple to ordinary matter and photons, enabling its detection in laboratory experiments. Here we study the quantum properties of the chameleon field, one such dark energy candidate, in an…
We report results from the GammeV Chameleon Afterglow Search---a search for chameleon particles created via photon/chameleon oscillations within a magnetic field. This experiment is sensitive to a wide class of chameleon power-law models…
The GammeV experiment has constrained the couplings of chameleon scalar fields to matter and photons. Here we present a detailed calculation of the chameleon afterglow rate underlying these constraints. The dependence of GammeV constraints…
We propose an afterglow phenomenon as a unique trace of chameleon fields in optical experiments. The vacuum interaction of a laser pulse with a magnetic field can lead to a production and subsequent trapping of chameleons in the vacuum…
A scalar field is a favorite candidate for the particle responsible for dark energy. However, few theoretical means exist that can simultaneously explain the observed acceleration of the Universe and evade tests of gravity. The chameleon…
We report the first results from the GammeV search for chameleon particles, which may be created via photon-photon interactions within a strong magnetic field. Chameleons are hypothesized scalar fields that could explain the dark energy…
Chameleon dark energy is a matter-coupled scalar field which hides its fifth forces locally by becoming massive. We estimate torsion pendulum constraints on the residual fifth forces due to models with gravitation-strength couplings.…
We present the most recent results of both aspects of the GammeV experiment. The first aspect is a search for axion-like particles using a variable baseline, "light-shining-through-a-wall" technique. This search excludes the particle…
The chameleon is a scalar field whose mass depends on the density of its environment. Chameleons are necessarily coupled to matter particles and will excite transitions between atomic energy levels in an analogous manner to photons. When…
We point out that chameleon field theories might reveal themselves as an 'afterglow' effect in axion-like particle search experiments due to chameleon-photon conversion in a magnetic field. We estimate the parameter space which is…
Theories of dark energy require a screening mechanism to explain why the associated scalar fields do not mediate observable long range fifth forces. The archetype of this is the chameleon field. Here we show that individual atoms are too…
A light scalar field framework of dark energy, sometimes referred to as quintessence, introduces a fifth force between normal matter objects. Screening mechanisms, such as the chameleon model, allow the scalar field to be almost massless on…
The chameleon model is a scalar field theory with a screening mechanism that explains how a cosmologically relevant light scalar can avoid the constraints of intra-solar-system searches for fifth-forces. The chameleon is a popular dark…
Scalar fields with a "chameleon" property, in which the effective particle mass is a function of its local environment, are common to many theories beyond the standard model and could be responsible for dark energy. If these fields couple…
Light scalar fields coupled to matter are a common consequence of theories of dark energy and attempts to solve the cosmological constant problem. The chameleon screening mechanism is commonly invoked in order to suppress the fifth forces…
Chameleons are a well motivated scalar field that might explain the observed late time accelerated expansion of the universe. Chameleons possess the interesting property that their mass, and hence interaction range, is dependent on the…
If dark energy --- which drives the accelerated expansion of the universe --- consists of a light scalar field, it might be detectable as a "fifth force" between normal-matter objects, in potential conflict with precision tests of gravity.…
We review the tantalising prospect that the first evidence for the dark energy driving the observed acceleration of the Universe on giga-parsec scales may be found through metre scale laboratory based atom interferometry experiments. To do…
Chameleons are light scalar fields with remarkable properties. Through the interplay of self-interactions and coupling to matter, chameleon particles have a mass that depends on the ambient matter density. The manifestation of the fifth…
The chameleon scalar field is a matter-coupled dark energy candidate whose nonlinear self-interaction partially screens its fifth force at laboratory scales. Nevertheless, small-scale experiments such as the torsion pendulum can provide…