Related papers: Testing General Free Functions in Preferred Scale …
This paper is a pedagogical introduction to models of gravity and how to constrain them through cosmological observations. We focus on the Horndeski scalar-tensor theory and on the quantities that can be measured with a minimum of…
We examine general physical parameterisations for viable gravitational models in the $f(R)$ framework. This is related to the mass of an additional scalar field, called the scalaron, that is introduced by the theories. Using a simple…
Tests of gravity performed in the solar system show a good agreement with general relativity. The latter is however challenged by observations at larger, galactic and cosmic, scales which are presently cured by introducing "dark matter" or…
The Horndeski action is the most general scalar-tensor theory with at most second-order derivatives in the equations of motion, thus evading Ostrogradsky instabilities and making it of interest when modifying gravity at large scales. To…
In a modified gravity theory, the propagation equation of gravitational waves will be presented in a non-standard way. Therefore this tenor mode perturbation of time-space, as a complement to the scalar mode perturbation, provides a unique…
In this work we introduce a criterion for testing general covariance in effective quantum gravity theories. It adapts the analysis of invariance under general spacetime diffeomorphisms of the Einstein-Hilbert action to the case of effective…
We investigate modified theories of gravity in the context of teleparallel geometries with possible Gauss-Bonnet contributions. The possible coupling of gravity with the trace of the energy-momentum tensor is also taken into account. This…
The Parametrized Post-Newtonian expansion of gravitational theories with a scalar field coupled to the Gauss-Bonnet invariant is performed and confrontation of such theories with Solar system experiments is discussed.
In several classes of modified gravity theories, extra degrees of freedom are not completely screened in the interiors of stellar and substellar objects. In such theories, the hydrostatic equilibrium condition inside these objects is…
On his way to General Relativity (GR) Einstein gave several arguments as to why a special relativistic theory of gravity based on a massless scalar field could be ruled out merely on grounds of theoretical considerations. We re-investigate…
Gravitational waves (GWs) provide a powerful, theory-independent probe of the dynamical structure of spacetime and the cosmological background. We study linearized GW propagation in k-essence cosmology, where a non-canonical scalar field…
This thesis covers several developments performed in metric-affine gravity. This alternative framework extends General Relativity by considering a more general connection than the one induced by the metric (i.e., arbitrary torsion and…
We analyze the propagating degrees of freedom in gravity models where the scalar curvature in the action is replaced by a generic function $f(R)$ of the curvature. That these gravity models are equivalent to Einstein's gravity with an extra…
Chameleon and similar (symmetron and dilation) theories of gravity can exhibit new and interesting features on cosmological scales whilst screening the modifications on small scales thereby satisfying solar system tests of general…
A general framework for effective theories propagating two tensor and one scalar degrees of freedom is investigated. Geometrically, it describes dynamical foliation of spacelike hypersurfaces coupled to a general background, in which the…
The onset of dark energy domination depends on the particular gravitational theory driving the cosmic evolution. Model independent techniques are crucial to test both the present $\Lambda$CDM cosmological paradigm and alternative theories,…
We present a systematic study of modified gravity (MG) models containing a single scalar field non-minimally coupled to the metric. Despite a large parameter space, exploiting the effective field theory of dark energy (EFT of DE)…
Recentely, it is shown that the quantum effects of matter determine the conformal degree of freedom of the space-time metric. This was done in the framework of a scalar-tensor theory with one scalar field. A point with that theory is that…
We explore the possibility of testing modified gravity exhibiting the Vainshtein mechanism against observations of cluster lensing. We work in the most general scalar-tensor theory with second-order field equations (Horndeski's theory), and…
The standard paradigm of cosmology assumes General Relativity (GR) is a valid theory for gravity at scales in which it has not been properly tested. Developing novel tests of GR and its alternatives is crucial if we want to give strength to…