Related papers: No Miracle in Gravity Portals
Degenerate scalar-tensor theories of gravity extend general relativity by a single degree of freedom, despite their equations of motion being higher than second order. In some cases, this is a mere consequence of a disformal field…
In the first part of this note, we observe that a non-Riemannian piece in the affine connection (a "dark connection") leads to an algebraically determined, conserved, symmetric 2-tensor in the Einstein field equations that is a natural dark…
In this work, we review a plethora of modified theories of gravity with generalized curvature-matter couplings. The explicit nonminimal couplings, for instance, between an arbitrary function of the scalar curvature $R$ and the Lagrangian…
We investigate the gauge-invariant cosmological perturbations in the gravity and matter frames in the general scalar-tensor theory where two frames are related by the disformal transformation. The gravity and matter frames are the…
We present a unifying treatment of dark energy and modified gravity that allows distinct conformal-disformal couplings of matter species to the gravitational sector. In this very general approach, we derive the conditions to avoid ghost and…
Non-minimal couplings between matter and curvature tensors arise in many different contexts. Such couplings modify solutions of general relativity (GR) and therefore can be probed in various astrophysical systems. A particularly interesting…
The two dark sectors of the universe - dark matter and dark energy - may interact with each other. Background and linear density perturbation evolution equations are developed for a generic coupling. We then establish the general conditions…
We study the implications of non-standard Higgs Yukawa couplings to light quarks on Higgs-portal dark matter phenomenology. Saturating the present experimental bounds on up-quark, down-quark, or strange-quark Yukawa couplings, the predicted…
We study the gravitational collapse of a homogeneous scalar field, minimally coupled to gravity, in the presence of a particular type of dynamical deformation between the canonical momenta of the scale factor and of the scalar field. In the…
We investigate whether a non-minimal coupling between dark matter and gravity can influence the internal dynamics of ultra-diffuse galaxies. Within this framework, the gravitational potential is modified by an additional term that captures…
In this work, we propose a model of the gravitational collapse of dark matter in the presence of quintessence or phantom-like scalar fields. Our treatment is based on the principles of general relativity up to virialization. We have chosen…
Whereas the nature of dark components in the Universe remains unknown, alternative models of gravity have been developed to offer a geometric explanation to the origin of such components. In this work we use the Minimal Geometric…
Here we concisely review the nonminimal coupling dynamics of a single scalar field in the context of purely affine gravity and extend the study to multifield dynamics. The coupling is performed via an affine connection and its associated…
Non-relativistic dark matter scattering with nucleons is constrained by direct detection experiments. We use the XENON constraints on the spin-independent and spin-dependent cross section for dark matter scattering with nucleons to…
It is shown that extensions to General Relativity, which introduce a strongly coupled scalar field, can be viable if the interaction has a non-conformal form. Such disformal coupling depends upon the gradients of the scalar field. Thus, if…
The recent high-quality Boomerang data allow to test many competing cosmological models. Here I present a seven-parameter likelihood analysis of dark energy models with exponential potential and explicit coupling to dark matter. Such a…
Light scalar fields with only gravitational strength couplings are typically present in UV complete theories of physics beyond the Standard Model. In the early universe it is natural for these fields to dominate the energy density, and…
We present a new model of "Stealth Dark Matter": a composite baryonic scalar of an $SU(N_D)$ strongly-coupled theory with even $N_D \geq 4$. All mass scales are technically natural, and dark matter stability is automatic without imposing an…
Ultra-light scalar fields may explain the nature of the dark matter in our universe. If such scalars couple quadratically to particles of the Standard Model the scalar acquires an effective mass which depends on the local matter energy…
Particles in a yet unexplored dark sector with sufficiently large mass and small gauge coupling may form purely gravitational atoms (quantum gravitational bound states) with a rich phenomenology. In particular, we investigate the…