Related papers: Extended Chameleons
Laboratory experiments can shed light on theories of new physics introduced in order to explain cosmological mysteries, including the nature of dark energy and dark matter. In this article I will focus on one particular example of this, the…
In the chameleon mechanism, a field (typically scalar) has a mass that depends on the matter density of the environment: the larger is the matter density, the larger is the mass of the chameleon. We briefly review some aspects of…
We analyse the role, on large cosmological scales and laboratory experiments, of the leading curvature squared contributions to the low energy effective action of gravity. We argue for a natural relationship $c_0\lambda^2\simeq 1$ at…
We investigate whether there are any cosmological evidences for a scalar field with a mass and coupling to matter which change accordingly to the properties of the astrophysical system it "lives in", without directly focusing on the…
Light scalar fields can drive the accelerated expansion of the universe. Hence, they are obvious dark energy candidates. To make such models compatible with tests of General Relativity in the solar system and "fifth force" searches on…
We consider the scalar-tensor theories of gravity extended by the pseudoscalar couplings to matter and gauge fields and derive constraints on the CP-odd combinations of scalar and pseudoscalar couplings from laboratory spin precession…
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…
Scalar fields with inverse power-law effective potentials may provide a negative pressure component to the energy density of the universe today, as required by cosmological observations. In order to be cosmologically relevant today, the…
We reexamine the static and spherical symmetric compact star configuration in the $R^2$ model of the $F(R)$ gravity theory. With asymptotic solutions for the additional scalar degrees of freedom, we refine analysis on the external geometry…
In chameleon $f(R)$-gravity, the fifth force will lead to `upturns' in galaxy rotation curves near the screening radius. The location of the upturn depends on the cosmic background value of the scalar field $f_{R0}$, as well as the mass,…
We study a class of metric-variation f(R) models that accelerates the expansion without a cosmological constant and satisfies both cosmological and solar-system tests in the small-field limit of the parameter space. Solar-system tests alone…
In this talk, I have discussed the implications of a multi-component nature of cosmic Dark Matter for the observational bounds on possible long-range fifth-forces mediated by a Dark Energy scalar field. By assuming a simple internal…
We study the dynamical description of scalar-tensor gravity by performing the best-fit analysis for two cases of exponential and power-law form of the potential and scalar field function coupled to the curvature. The models are then tested…
The main aim of this paper is to analyse minimally-coupled scalar-fields -- quintessence and phantom -- as the main candidates to explain the accelerated expansion of the universe and compare its observables to current cosmological…
Non-linear gravitational clustering in a universe dominated by dark energy, modelled by a `quintessence' scalar field, and cold dark matter with space-time varying mass is studied. Models of this type, where the variable mass is induced by…
Dark energy models, such as the chameleon, where the acceleration of the expansion of the universe results from the dynamics of a scalar field coupled to matter, suffer from the potential existence of a fifth force. Three known mechanisms…
The cosmological evolution of a quintessence-like scalar field, phi, coupled to matter and gauge fields leads to effective modifications of the coupling constants and particle masses over time. We analyze a class of models where the scalar…
We consider a generalized Brans-Dicke model in which the scalar field has a potential function and is also allowed to couple non-minimally with the matter sector. We assume a power law form for the potential and the coupling functions as…
We consider scalar field models of dark energy interacting with dark matter through a coupling proportional to the contraction of the four-derivative of the scalar field with the four-velocity of the dark matter fluid. The coupling is…
We investigate the nature of additional scalar degrees of freedom contained in extended hybrid metric-Palatini gravity, outlining the emergence of two coupled dynamical scalar modes. In particular, we discuss the weak field limit of the…