Related papers: Probing Massive Scalar Fields from a Pulsar in a S…
In most studies of equivalence principle violation by solar system bodies, it is assumed that the ratio of gravitational to inertial mass for a given body deviates from unity by a parameter Delta which is proportional to its gravitational…
If dark matter is a light scalar field weakly interacting with elementary particles, such a field induces oscillations of the physical constants, which results in time-varying force acting on macroscopic objects. In this paper, we report on…
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 discovery of a pulsar (PSR) in orbit around a black hole (BH) is expected to provide a superb new probe of relativistic gravity and BH properties. Apart from a precise mass measurement for the BH, one could expect a clean verification…
We derive a new regularization method for the calculation of the (massless) scalar self force in curved spacetime. In this method, the scalar self force is expressed in terms of the difference between two retarded scalar fields: the…
Force between static point particles coupled to a classical ultra-massive scalar field is calculated. The field potential is proportional to the modulus of the field. It turns out that the force exactly vanishes when the distance between…
Aims. We investigated the gravitational effects of a scalar field within scalar-tensor gravity as an alternative to dark matter. Motivated by chameleon, symmetron and f(R)-gravity models, we studied a phenomenological scenario where the…
Screened modified gravity (SMG) and Brans-Dicke (BD) gravity are typical examples of scalar-tensor theories with and without screening mechanisms, which can suppress the scalar field in dense regions. In this paper, we investigate the tests…
Gravitational theories differing from General Relativity may explain the accelerated expansion of the Universe without a cosmological constant. However, to pass local gravitational tests, a "screening mechanism" is needed to suppress, on…
The current effort to test General Relativity employs multiple disparate formalisms for different observables, obscuring the relations between laboratory, astrophysical and cosmological constraints. To remedy this situation, we develop a…
When augmenting our cosmological models or gravitational theories with an additional light scalar field, any coupling between matter and this scalar can affect the orbital motion of binary systems. Ordinarily, the new force mediated by the…
The predictions of General relativity (GR) are in good agreement with observations in the solar system. Nevertheless, unexpected anomalies appeared during the last decades, along with the increasing precision of measurements. Those…
Several extensions of General Relativity and high energy physics include scalar fields as extra degrees of freedom. In the search for predictions in the non-linear regime of cosmological evolution, the community makes use of numerical…
Recently, gravitational microlensing has been investigated in the framework of the weak field limit of fourth order gravity theory. However, solar system data (i.e. planetary periods and light bending) can be used to put strong constraints…
Scalar dark matter is a viable alternative to particle dark matter models such as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPS). This is particularly the case for scalars with a low mass $m \gtrsim 10^{-21} {\rm eV}$ as required to make…
Solar System tests give nowadays constraints on the estimated value of the cosmological constant, which can be accurately derived from different experiments regarding gravitational redshift, light deflection, gravitational time-delay and…
Interest has focussed recently on low energy implications of a nontrivial scale invariant sector of an effective field theory with an IR fixed point, manifest in terms of ``unparticles'' with peculiar properties. If unparticle stuff exists…
The timing of binary pulsars allows us to place some of the tightest constraints on modified theories of gravity. Perhaps some of the most interesting and well-motivated extensions to General Relativity are scalar-tensor theories, in which…
Scalar-tensor theories have a long history as possible phenomenological alternatives to General Relativity, but are known to potentially produce deviations from the (strong) equivalence principle in systems involving self-gravitating…
String theory suggests the existence of gravitational-strength scalar fields ("dilaton" and "moduli") whose couplings to matter violate the equivalence principle. This provides a new motivation for high-precision clock experiments, as well…