Related papers: Testing screened modified gravity with SDSS-IV-MaN…
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…
Scalar-tensor theories are frequently only consistent with fifth force constraints in the presence of a screening mechanism, namely in order to suppress an otherwise unacceptably large coupling between the scalar and ordinary matter. Here…
Modified theories of gravity have received a renewed interest due to their ability to account for the cosmic acceleration. In order to satisfy the solar system tests of gravity, these theories need to include a screening mechanism that…
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…
$f(R)$ theories of modified gravity may be compatible with current observations if the deviations from general relativity are sufficiently well screened in dense environments. In recent work [arXiv:2310.19955] we have shown that…
Screened modified gravity (SMG) is a kind of scalar-tensor theory with screening mechanisms, which can suppress the fifth force in dense regions and allow theories to evade the solar system and laboratory tests. In this paper, we…
The nature of warm, ionized gas outside of galaxies may illuminate several key galaxy evolutionary processes. A serendipitous observation by the MaNGA survey has revealed a large, asymmetric H$\alpha$ complex with no optical counterpart…
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…
Modifications to General Relativity typically introduce a scalar degree of freedom. Experimental constraints require that the "fifth" force produced by this field must be screened in high density environments. An important consequence of…
The detailed nature of dark energy remains a mystery, leaving the possibility that its effects might be explained by changes to the laws of gravity on large scales. The peculiar velocities of galaxies directly trace the strength of gravity…
Many theories of modified gravity, including the well studied Horndeski models, are characterized by a screening mechanism that ensures that standard gravity is recovered near astrophysical bodies. In a recently introduced class of…
Models of modified gravity introduce extra degrees of freedom, which for consistency with the data, should be suppressed at observable scales. In the models that share properties of massive gravity such a suppression is due to nonlinear…
In theories of modified gravity with the chameleon screening mechanism, the strength of the fifth force depends on environment. This induces an environment dependence of structure formation, which differs from $\Lambda$CDM. We show that…
The chameleon gravity model postulates the existence of a scalar field that couples with matter to mediate a fifth force. If it exists, this fifth force would influence the hot X-ray emitting gas filling the potential wells of galaxy…
We present a Markov chain Monte Carlo pipeline which can be used for unbiased large-scale tests of gravity using galaxy cluster observations. The pipeline, which currently uses cluster number counts to constrain the present-day background…
The standard approach to test for deviations from general relativity on cosmological scales is to combine measurements of the growth rate of structure with gravitational lensing. In this study, we show that this method suffers from an…
New fifth forces have not yet been detected in the laboratory or in the solar system, hence it is typically difficult to introduce new light scalar fields that would mediate such forces. In recent years it has been shown that a number of…
Here we investigate a possible presence of a fifth force at the Galactic Center (GC), and its potential influence on the stellar orbits around the central supermassive black hole of our Galaxy. For this purpose we simulated the stellar…
Astrophysical tests of modified modified gravity theories in the nearby universe have been emphasized recently by Hui, Nicolis and Stubbs (2009) and Jain and VanderPlas (2011). A key element of such tests is the screening mechanism whereby…
We propose a novel method to test the gravitational interactions in the outskirts of galaxy clusters. When gravity is modified, this is typically accompanied by the introduction of an additional scalar degree of freedom, which mediates an…