Related papers: Investigating scalar-tensor-gravity with statistic…
The increasing precision of cosmological data provides us with an opportunity to test general relativity (GR) on the largest accessible scales. Parameterizing modified gravity models facilitates the systematic testing of the predictions of…
The Horndeski scalar-tensor theory and its recent extensions allow nonlinear derivative interactions of the scalar degree of freedom. We study the matter bispectrum of large scale structure as a probe of these modified gravity theories,…
We consider the emergence of large-scale cosmological expansion in scalar-tensor theories of gravity. This is achieved by modelling sub-horizon regions of space-time as weak-field expansions around Minkowski space, and then subsequently…
The properties of metric perturbations are determined in the context of an expanding Universe governed by a modified theory of gravity with a non-minimal coupling between curvature and matter. We analyse the dynamics of the 6 components of…
We investigate the radiative stability of Horndeski scalar-tensor theories with luminally propagating gravitational waves (as extensively discussed in the wake of GW170817) and show that in general there is a tension between obtaining…
Theories of dark energy and modified gravity can be strongly constrained by astrophysical or cosmological observations, as illustrated by the recent observation of the gravitational wave event GW170817 and of its electromagnetic counterpart…
The present acceleration of the Universe strongly indicated by recent observational data can be modeled in the scope of a scalar-tensor theory of gravity. We show that it is possible to determine the structure of this theory (the scalar…
We present constraints on modified gravity from a cosmic shear analysis of the final data release of the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS-Legacy) in combination with DESI measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations, eBOSS observations of redshift…
We present a method for parametrizing linear cosmological perturbations of theories of gravity, around homogeneous and isotropic backgrounds. The method is sufficiently general and systematic that it can be applied to theories with any…
We investigate gravitational waves with an arbitrary potential within the framework of linearized Horndeski theory. We show that the minimum of the potential can play the role of an effective cosmological constant in this theory, which is…
With the advent of gravitational-wave astronomy marked by the aLIGO GW150914 and GW151226 observations, a measurement of the cosmological speed of gravity will likely soon be realized. We show that a confirmation of equality to the speed of…
Recently, in [1], we presented the first combined non-parametric reconstruction of the three time-dependent functions that capture departures from the standard cosmological model, $\Lambda$CDM, in the expansion history and gravitational…
We construct new classes of modified theories in which the matter sector couples with the Einstein tensor, namely we consider direct couplings of the latter to the energy-momentum tensor, and to the derivatives of its trace. We extract the…
A scalar-tensor theory of gravity is formulated in which $G$ and particle masses are allowed to vary. The theory yields a globally static cosmological model with no evolutionary timescales, no cosmological coincidences, and no flatness and…
Cosmology in extended theories of gravity is considered assuming the Palatini variational principle, for which the metric and connection are independent variables. The field equations are derived to linear order in perturbations about the…
Viable models of modified gravity designed to produce cosmic acceleration at the current epoch, closely mimic the $\Lambda$CDM model at the level of background cosmology. However, this degeneracy is generically broken at the level of linear…
Phenomenological functions $\Sigma$ and $\mu$, also known as $G_{\rm light}/G$ and $G_{\rm matter}/G$, are commonly used to parameterize modifications of the growth of large-scale structure in alternative theories of gravity. We study the…
Twenty years have passed since the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the Universe, reviving the interest for alternative theories of gravity. Adding a scalar degree of freedom to the usual metric of general relativity is one of the…
We consider spatially covariant modified gravity in which the would-be scalar degree of freedom is made non-dynamical and hence there are just two tensorial degrees of freedom, i.e., the same number of dynamical degrees of freedom as in…
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…