Related papers: Screening Vector Field Modifications of General Re…
Fifth forces are ubiquitous in modified gravity theories, and must be screened to evade stringent local tests. This can introduce unusual behaviour in galaxy phenomenology by affecting galaxies' components differently. Here we use the…
We construct a consistency test of General Relativity (GR) on cosmological scales. This test enables us to distinguish between the two alternatives to explain the late-time accelerated expansion of the universe, that is, dark energy models…
We consider a model with Lorentz-violating vector field condensates, in which dispersion laws of all perturbations, including tensor modes, undergo non-trivial modification in the infrared. The model is free of ghosts and tachyons at high…
We construct spontaneously vectorized black holes where a real vector field is coupled to the Gauss-Bonnet invariant. We employ three coupling functions for the vector field, and determine the respective domains of existence of the…
Over the last few decades, a plethora of modifications to general relativity have been proposed to solve a host of cosmological and astrophysical problems. Many modified gravity models are now ruled out with further astrophysical…
The bending of lightrays by the gravitational field of a ``lens'' that is moving relative to the observer is calculated within the approximation of weak fields, small angles and thin lenses. Up to first order in $v/c$ -- and assuming the…
We introduce the generalized Lorentz gauge condition in the theory of quantum electrodynamics into the general vector-tensor theories of gravity. Then we explore the cosmic evolution and the static, spherically symmetric solution of the…
We tackle the problem of the accelerating universe by reconsidering the most general form of the metric when the speed of light is allowed to evolve with time in a homogeneous and isotropic universe. A new varying speed of light (VSL) model…
We present a detailed study of the cosmological evolution in general vector-tensor theories of gravity without potential terms. We consider the evolution of the vector field throughout the expansion history of the universe and carry out a…
Many modifications of gravity introduce new scalar degrees of freedom, and in such theories matter fields typically couple to an effective metric that depends on both the true metric of spacetime and on the scalar field and its derivatives.…
Light bosonic fields mediate long range forces between objects. If these fields have self-interactions, i.e., non-quadratic terms in the potential, the experimental constraints on such forces can be drastically altered due to a screening…
A generic second-order scalar-tensor theory contains a nonlinear derivative self-interaction of the scalar degree of freedom $\phi$ \`{a} la Galileon models, which allows for the Vainshtein screening mechanism. We investigate this effect on…
Recently the global variation of the Planck mass in the General Relativistic Einstein-Hilbert action was proposed as a self-tuning mechanism of the cosmological constant preventing vacuum energy from freely gravitating. We show that this…
We explore the complementarity of weak lensing and galaxy peculiar velocity measurements to better constrain modifications to General Relativity. We find no evidence for deviations from GR on cosmological scales from a combination of…
Models of modified gravity introduce extra degrees of freedom, which for consistency with the data, should be suppressed at observable scales. In the models that share properties of massive gravity such a suppression is due to nonlinear…
Vector perturbations sourced by topological defects can generate rotations in the lensing of background galaxies. This is a potential smoking gun for the existence of defects since rotation generates a curl-like component in the weak…
Spontaneous breaking of local Lorentz symmetry occurs when a local vector or tensor field acquires a nonzero vacuum expectation value. The effects of such breaking are examined in the context of gravity theory. These include an associated…
We study observational bounds in a class of scalar-tensor gravity theories recently proposed. Either an upper or lower bound on a conformal factor in these theories is derived from null observation in composition dependent fifth force…
Gravitational lensing affects observed cosmological correlation functions because observed images do not coincide with true source locations. We treat this universal effect in a general way here, deriving a single formula that can be used…
We explore the sensitivity of weak gravitational lensing to second-order corrections to the spacetime metric within a cosmological adaptation of the parameterized post-Newtonian framework. Whereas one might expect nonlinearities of the…