Related papers: Chameleons on the Racetrack
The chameleon mechanism appearing in massive tensor-scalar theory of gravity can effectively reduce the nonminimal coupling between the scalar field and matter. This mechanism is invoked to reconcile cosmological data requiring introduction…
We show that the chameleon scalar field can drive the current phase of cosmic acceleration for a large class of scalar potentials that are also consistent with local tests of gravity. These provide explicit realizations of a quintessence…
We search for viable f(R) theories of gravity, making use of the equivalence between such theories and scalar-tensor gravity. We find that models can be made consistent with solar system constraints either by giving the scalar a high mass…
There are at least two serious moduli problems in string cosmology. The first is the possibility that moduli dominate the energy density at the time of nucleosynthesis. The second is that they may not find their minima all together. After…
Light scalar fields are expected to arise in theories of high energy physics (such as string theory), and find phenomenological motivations in dark energy, dark matter, or neutrino physics. However, the coupling of light scalar fields to…
The late-time accelerated expansion of the universe could be caused by a scalar field that is screened on small scales, as in chameleon or symmetron scenarios. We present an analogy between thin shell configurations of such scalar fields…
Most theories that predict time and/or space variation of fundamental constants also predict violations of the Weak Equivalence Principle. In 2004 Khoury and Weltman proposed the so called chameleon field arguing that it could help avoiding…
We carry out a suite of cosmological simulations of modified action f(R) models where cosmic acceleration arises from an alteration of gravity instead of dark energy. These models introduce an extra scalar degree of freedom which enhances…
Chameleon mechanism appearing in massive tensor-scalar theory of gravity can effectively reduce locally the non-minimal coupling between the scalar field and matter. This mechanism is invoked to reconcile large-scale departures from general…
We consider a hybrid scalar field which is non-minimally coupled to the matter and models a chameleon cosmology. By introducing an effective potential, we study the dependence of the effective potential's minimum and hybrid chameleon…
Chameleon fields may modify gravity on cluster scales while recovering general relativity locally. This article reviews signatures of chameleon modifications in the nonlinear cosmological structure, comparing different techniques to model…
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 study general properties of attractors for tachyonic potential chameleon scalar-field model which possess cosmological scaling solutions. An analytic formulation is given to obtain fixed points with a discussion on their stability. The…
Recent observations indicate that the universe's expansion has been accelerating of late. But recent theoretical work has highlighted the difficulty of squaring acceleration with the underlying assumptions of string theory, disfavoring most…
A criterion to seek for compatibility of any given matter coupling with a fundamental theory of physics - assumed here to be the string theory - is developed. We call this criterion as"`compatibility check", and apply it to test different…
The chameleonic behaviour of the String theory dilaton is suggested. Some of the possible consequences of the chameleonic string dilaton are analyzed in detail. In particular, (1) we suggest a new stringy solution to the cosmological…
We investigate the cosmological dynamics of the recently proposed extended chameleon models at both background and linear perturbation levels. Dynamical systems techniques are employed to fully characterize the evolution of the universe at…
We review some of the properties of chameleon theories. Chameleon fields are gravitationally coupled to matter and evade gravitational tests thanks to two fundamental properties. The first one is the density dependence of the chameleon…
We consider different methods to probe chameleons with slow neutrons. Chameleon modify the potential of bouncing neutrons over a flat mirror in the terrestrial gravitational field. This induces a shift in the energy levels of the neutrons…
A brief discussion is presented assessing the achievements and challenges of string phenomenology: the subfield dedicated to study the potential for string theory to make contact with particle physics and cosmology. Building from the well…