Related papers: Extrasolar planets as a probe of modified gravity
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…
In the pursuit of a general formulation for a modified gravitational theory at the non-relativistic level and as an alternative to the dark matter hypothesis, we construct a model valid over a wide variety of astrophysical scales. Through…
Screening mechanisms are essential features of dark energy models mediating a fifth force on large scales. We study the regime of strong scalar field nonlinearities, known as Vainshtein screening, in the most general scalar-tensor theories…
Chern-Simons modified gravity is a string-theory and loop-quantum-gravity inspired effective theory that modifies General Relativity by adding a parity-violating Pontryagin density to the Einstein-Hilbert action multiplied by a coupling…
Scalar-tensor theories whose phenomenology differs significantly from general relativity on large (e.g. cosmological) scales do not typically pass local experimental tests (e.g. in the solar system) unless they present a suitable "screening…
Two decades ago, empirical evidence concerning the existence and frequency of planets around stars, other than our own, was absent. Since this time, the detection of extrasolar planets from Jupiter-sized to most recently Earth-sized worlds…
Chameleon theories of gravity predict that the gaseous component of isolated dwarf galaxies rotates with a faster velocity than the stellar component. In this paper, we exploit this effect to obtain new constraints on the model parameters…
It has been proven that in standard Einstein gravity, exotic matter is required to stabilize traversable wormholes. Quantum field theory permits these violations due to the quantum coherent effects found in any quantum field. Even…
In the past few decades, various versions of modified gravity theories were proposed to mimic the effect of dark matter. Compared with the conventional Newtonian or relativistic dynamics, these theories contain some extra apparent force…
Dark matter or modifications of the Newtonian inverse-square law in the solar-system are studied with accurate planetary astrometric data. From extra-perihelion precession and possible changes in the third Kepler's law, we get an upper…
Toward understanding of dark energy, we propose a novel method to directly produce a chameleon particle and force its decay under controlled gas pressure in a laboratory-based experiment. {\it Chameleon gravity}, characterized by its…
We systematically assess several limiting cases of modified gravity, where particular theoretical or observational conditions hold. This framework includes the well known scalar-tensor gravity and No Slip Gravity and No Run Gravity, and we…
We study different phenomenological signatures associated with new spin-2 particles. These new degrees of freedom, that we call hidden gravitons, arise in different high-energy theories such as extra-dimensional models or extensions of…
This thesis focuses on the detection of extrasolar planets via the transit method, and more specifically addresses issues relevant to the preparation of upcoming space missions such as CoRoT, Kepler, Eddington, aiming to detect terrestrial…
The Horndeski theory of gravity is known as the most general scalar-tensor theory with second-order field equations. Recently, it was demonstrated by Gleyzes et al. that the Horndeski theory can further be generalized in such a way that…
The discovery of habitable exoplanets has long been a heated topic in astronomy. Traditional methods for exoplanet identification include the wobble method, direct imaging, gravitational microlensing, etc., which not only require a…
We develop a full four-dimensional numerical code to study scalar gravitational radiation emitted from binary systems and probe the Vainshtein mechanism in situations that break the static and spherical symmetry, relevant for binary pulsars…
Model-independent parametrisations of modified gravity have attracted a lot of attention over the past few years and numerous combinations of experiments and observables have been suggested to constrain the parameters used in these models.…
The accelerated expansion of the universe motivates a wide class of scalar field theories that modify gravity on large scales. In regions where the weak field limit of General Relativity has been confirmed by experiment, such theories need…
The discovery of over 200 extrasolar planets with the radial velocity (RV) technique has revealed that many giant planets have large eccentricities, in striking contrast with most of the planets in the solar system and prior theories of…