Constraining chameleon field theories using the GammeV afterglow experiments

Journal Article · Sun Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 2009

OSTI ID:969518

Upadhye, A; Steffen, J H; Weltman, A

The GammeV experiment has constrained the couplings of chameleon scalar fields to matter and photons. Here we present a detailed calculation of the chameleon afterglow rate underlying these constraints. The dependence of GammeV constraints on various assumptions in the calculation is studied. We discuss GammeV-CHASE, a second-generation GammeV experiment, which will improve upon GammeV in several major ways. Using our calculation of the chameleon afterglow rate, we forecast model-independent constraints achievable by GammeV-CHASE. We then apply these constraints to a variety of chameleon models, including quartic chameleons and chameleon dark energy models. The new experiment will be able to probe a large region of parameter space that is beyond the reach of current tests, such as fifth force searches, constraints on the dimming of distant astrophysical objects, and bounds on the variation of the fine structure constant.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 969518
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB-09-584-A; arXiv eprint number arXiv:0911.3906
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
AFTERGLOW
ENERGY MODELS
FIELD THEORIES
FINE STRUCTURE
PHOTONS
PROBES
Phenomenology-HEP
SCALAR FIELDS