Probing dark energy with atom interferometry
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...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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IOP Science
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42099/ |
| _version_ | 1848796418378039296 |
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| author | Burrage, Clare Copeland, Edmund J. Hinds, E. A. |
| author_facet | Burrage, Clare Copeland, Edmund J. Hinds, E. A. |
| author_sort | Burrage, Clare |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:47:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-42099 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:47:40Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | IOP Science |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-420992020-05-04T17:04:14Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42099/ Probing dark energy with atom interferometry Burrage, Clare Copeland, Edmund J. Hinds, E. A. 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. IOP Science 2015-03-24 Article PeerReviewed Burrage, Clare, Copeland, Edmund J. and Hinds, E. A. (2015) Probing dark energy with atom interferometry. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 1503 (03). 042. ISSN 1475-7516 http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1475-7516/2015/03/042/meta doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2015/03/042 doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2015/03/042 |
| spellingShingle | Burrage, Clare Copeland, Edmund J. Hinds, E. A. Probing dark energy with atom interferometry |
| title | Probing dark energy with atom interferometry |
| title_full | Probing dark energy with atom interferometry |
| title_fullStr | Probing dark energy with atom interferometry |
| title_full_unstemmed | Probing dark energy with atom interferometry |
| title_short | Probing dark energy with atom interferometry |
| title_sort | probing dark energy with atom interferometry |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42099/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42099/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42099/ |