Chameleons with field-dependent couplings
- Institut de Physique Theorique, CEA, IPhT, CNRS, URA 2306, F-91191Gif/Yvette Cedex (France)
- Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Sheffield, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield S3 7RH (United Kingdom)
- Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, 0315 Oslo (Norway)
- Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Universitaet Heidelberg, Philosophenweg 16, D-69120 Heidelberg (Germany)
Certain scalar-tensor theories exhibit the so-called chameleon mechanism, whereby observational signatures of scalar fields are hidden by a combination of self-interactions and interactions with ambient matter. Not all scalar-tensor theories exhibit such a chameleon mechanism, which has been originally found in models with inverse power runaway potentials and field-independent couplings to matter. In this paper we investigate field theories with field-dependent couplings and a power-law potential for the scalar field. We show that the theory indeed is a chameleon field theory. We find the thin-shell solution for a spherical body and investigate the consequences for Eoet-Wash experiments, fifth-force searches and Casimir-force experiments. Requiring that the scalar field evades gravitational tests, we find that the coupling is sensitive to a mass scale which is of order of the Hubble scale today.
- OSTI ID:
- 21432355
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 82, Issue 8; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.82.083503; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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