Probing dark energy with atom interferometry

Journal Article · Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2015/03/042· OSTI ID:22525929

Burrage, Clare; Copeland, Edmund J. ^[1]

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1. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD (United Kingdom)

Theories of dark energy require a screening mechanism to explain why the associated scalar fields do not mediate observable long range fifth forces. The archetype of this is the chameleon field. Here we show that individual atoms are too small to screen the chameleon field inside a large high-vacuum chamber, and therefore can detect the field with high sensitivity. We derive new limits on the chameleon parameters from existing experiments, and show that most of the remaining chameleon parameter space is readily accessible using atom interferometry.

• OSTI ID: 22525929
• Journal Information: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2015, Issue 03; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ATOMS
INTERACTION RANGE
INTERFEROMETRY
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
PROBES
SCALAR FIELDS
SENSITIVITY
SPACE