Related papers: The Swampland and Screened Modified Gravity
A low-energy effective theory is said to be in the swampland if it does not have any consistent UV completion inside a theory of quantum gravity. The natural question is if the standard model of particle physics, possibly with some minimal…
In a large class of scalar-tensor theories that are potential candidates for dark energy, a nonminimal coupling between the scalar and the photon is possible. The presence of such an interaction grants us the exciting prospect of directly…
We investigate scalar-tensor theories where matter couples to the scalar field via a kinetically dependent conformal coupling. These models can be seen as the low-energy description of invariant field theories under a global Abelian…
It was recently pointed out that the existence of dark energy imposes highly restrictive constraints on effective field theories that satisfy the Swampland conjectures. We provide a critical confrontation of these constraints with the…
It has recently been conjectured that string theory does not admit de Sitter vacua, and that quintessence explains the current epoch of accelerated cosmic expansion. A proposed, key prediction of this scenario is time-varying couplings in…
We consider a generalized Brans-Dicke model in which the scalar field has a potential function and is also allowed to couple non-minimally with the matter sector. This anomalous gravitational coupling can in principle avoid the model to…
One of the clear predictions of string theory is the presence of a dynamical scalar partner of the spin-2 graviton, known as the dilaton. This will violate the Einstein Equivalence Principle, leading to a plethora of possibly observable…
We point out that the swampland conjectures, forbidding the presence of global symmetries and (meta-)stable de Sitter vacua within quantum gravity, pick up a dynamical axion for the electroweak SU(2) gauge theory as a natural candidate for…
This review considers the theoretical approaches to the understanding of dark energy which comprises approximately 68\% of the energy of our Universe and explains an acceleration in its expansion. Following a discussion of the main approach…
Theories that attempt to explain cosmic acceleration by modifying gravity typically introduces a long-range scalar force that needs to be screened on small scales. One common screening mechanism is the chameleon, where the scalar force is…
Chameleon dark energy is a matter-coupled scalar field which hides its fifth forces locally by becoming massive. We estimate torsion pendulum constraints on the residual fifth forces due to models with gravitation-strength couplings.…
We consider a noncommutative standard model with a minimal coupling scalar field and a dynamical deformation between the canonical momenta of its scale factor and scalar field, and a chameleon model with a non-minimally coupling scalar…
Scalar-tensor theories of gravity modify General Relativity by introducing a scalar field that couples non-minimally to the metric tensor, while satisfying the weak-equivalence principle. These theories are interesting because they have the…
It is pointed out that string-loop effects may generate matter couplings for the dilaton allowing this scalar partner of the tensorial graviton to stay massless while contributing to macroscopic gravity in a way naturally compatible with…
Swampland criteria like the Weak Gravity Conjecture should not only apply to particles, but also to other lower-codimension charged objects in 4d EFTs like strings and membranes. However, the description of the latter is in general subtle…
Using a novel and self-consistent approach that avoids the scalar-tensor identification in the Einstein frame, we reanalyze the viability of f(R) gravity within the context of solar-system tests. In order to do so, we depart from a simple…
The discovery of cosmic acceleration motivated extensive studies of dynamical dark energy and modified gravity models. Of particular interest are the scalar-tensor theories, with a scalar field dark energy non-minimally coupled to matter.…
We make a number of conjectures about the geometry of continuous moduli parameterizing the string landscape. In particular we conjecture that such moduli are always given by expectation value of scalar fields and that moduli spaces with…
If dark energy --- which drives the accelerated expansion of the universe --- consists of a light scalar field, it might be detectable as a "fifth force" between normal-matter objects, in potential conflict with precision tests of gravity.…
Modified theories of gravity that offer viable models for dark energy often rely on mechanisms that screen their effects in high density environments. From this perspective, it would appear that, once solar system constraints are satisfied,…