Screening Modifications of Gravity through Disformally Coupled Fields

May, 2012
5 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.Lett. 109 (2012) 241102
e-Print:

Citations per year

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Abstract: (arXiv)
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 field is locally static and smooth, the coupling becomes invisible in the solar system: this is the disformal screening mechanism. A cosmological model is considered where the disformal coupling triggers the onset of accelerated expansion after a scaling matter era, giving a good fit to a wide range of observational data. Moreover, the interaction leaves signatures in the formation of large-scale structure that can be used to probe such couplings.
Note:
  • 5 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for PRL
  • 04.50.Kd
  • 95.36.+x
  • 98.80.-k
  • field theory: scalar
  • coupling: conformal
  • expansion: acceleration
  • screening
  • general relativity
  • cosmological model
  • solar system