Related papers: A general study of chameleon fifth force in gravit…
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…
Many non-linear scalar field theories possess a screening mechanism that can suppress any associated fifth force in dense environments. As a result, these theories can evade local experimental tests of new forces. Chameleon-like screening,…
It has been shown that the presence of non-minimally coupled scalar fields giving rise to a fifth force can noticeably alter dynamics on galactic scales. Such a fifth force must be screened in the Solar System but if unscreened it can have…
Following work by Khoury and Weltman, we introduce a scalar field phi, the chameleon, which is conformally coupled to matter. That is, matter experiences a metric which is a conformal transform (parametrized by phi) of the Einstein metric.…
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…
Chameleon and symmetron theories serve as archetypal models for how light scalar fields can couple to matter with gravitational strength or greater, yet evade the stringent constraints from classical tests of gravity on Earth and in the…
Theories of modified gravity where light scalars with non-trivial self-interactions and non-minimal couplings to matter-chameleon and symmetron theories-dynamically suppress deviations from general relativity in the solar system. On other…
We present a novel scenario where a scalar field acquires a mass which depends on the local matter density: the field is massive on Earth, where the density is high, but is essentially free in the solar system, where the density is low. All…
We study the field profile of a scalar field $\phi$ that couples to a matter fluid (dubbed a chameleon field) in the relativistic gravitational background of a spherically symmetric spacetime. Employing a linear expansion in terms of the…
We review the tantalising prospect that the first evidence for the dark energy driving the observed acceleration of the Universe on giga-parsec scales may be found through metre scale laboratory based atom interferometry experiments. To do…
Extensions of the standard models of particle physics and cosmology often lead to long-range fifth forces with properties dependent on gravitational environment. Fifth forces on astrophysical scales are best studied in the cosmic web where…
Scalar-tensor theories are studied in the context of cosmological evolution, where the expansion history of the Universe is reconstructed. It is considered quintessence/phantom models, where inflation and cosmic acceleration are reproduced.…
The chameleon scalar field is a matter-coupled dark energy candidate whose nonlinear self-interaction partially screens its fifth force at laboratory scales. Nevertheless, small-scale experiments such as the torsion pendulum can provide…
In this article we discuss some aspects of solar physics from the standpoint of the so-called chameleon fields (i.e. quantum fields, typically scalar, where the mass is an increasing function of the matter density of the environment).…
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…
Screening mechanisms allow light scalar fields to dynamically avoid the constraints that come from our lack of observation of a long-range fifth force. Galactic scale tests are of particular interest when the light scalar is introduced to…
In this paper, we focus on the general free scalar-tensor gravity with three free coupling functions, which in the near-field region looks like general relativity (GR) plus a fifth force of Yukawa-type induced by the scalar field. We show…
We investigate the effects of chameleon scalar field to the effective density and pressure of a dark matter halo. The pressure is generated from the chameleonic fifth force on the matter. We demonstrate that the thick-shell non-singular…
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…
We show that, as a result of non-linear self-interactions, it is feasible, at least in light of the bounds coming from terrestrial tests of gravity, measurements of the Casimir force and those constraints imposed by the physics of compact…