A proposed experimental search for chameleons using asymmetric parallel plates

Burrage, Clare; Copeland, Edmund J.; Stevenson, James A.

Abstract

Light scalar fields coupled to matter are a common consequence of theories of dark energy and attempts to solve the cosmological constant problem. The chameleon screening mechanism is commonly invoked in order to suppress the fifth forces mediated by these scalars, sufficiently to avoid current experimental constraints, without fine tuning. The force is suppressed dynamically by allowing the mass of the scalar to vary with the local density. Recently it has been shown that near future cold atoms experiments using atom-interferometry have the ability to access a large proportion of the chameleon parameter space. In this work we demonstrate how experiments utilising asymmetric parallel plates can push deeper into the remaining parameter space available to the chameleon.

Citation

Burrage, C., Copeland, E. J., & Stevenson, J. A. (2016). A proposed experimental search for chameleons using asymmetric parallel plates. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2016(8), https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2016/08/070

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 6, 2016
• Publication Date: Aug 31, 2016
• Deposit Date: Mar 29, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 29, 2017
• Journal: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
• Electronic ISSN: 1475-7516
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2016
• Issue: 8
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2016/08/070
• Keywords: Dark energy experiments, Dark energy theory
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/803603
• Publisher URL: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1475-7516/2016/08/070/meta
• Additional Information: This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. The publisher is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1475-7516/2016/08/070/meta
• Contract Date: Mar 29, 2017