A sensitive search for dark energy through chameleon scalar fields using neutron interferometry

37th Symposium on Nuclear Physics

Snow, W.M.^1 ; Arif, M.^2 ; Heacock, B.^3 ; Huber, M.^2 ; Li, K.^1 ; Pushin, D.^4 ; Skavysh, V.^1 ; Young, A.R.^3

Indiana University, Center for Exploration of Energy and Matter, Bloomington

IN

47408, United States^1

National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg

MD

20899, United States^2

North Carolina State University, Raleigh

NC

27695, United States^3

Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo

ON

N2L 3G1, Canada^4

关键词: Accelerated expansion;    Coupling terms;    Effective range;    Laboratory experiments;    Laser-based measurement;    Neutron interferometry;    Nonlinear coupling;    Short-range forces;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/578/1/012009/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/578/1/012009

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

The physical origin of the dark energy, which is postulated to cause the accelerated expansion rate of the universe, is one of the major open questions of cosmology. A large subset of theories postulate the existence of a scalar field with a nonlinear coupling to matter chosen so that the effective range and/or strength of the field is greatly suppressed unless the source is placed in vacuum. We describe a measurement using neutron interferometry which can place a stringent upper bound on chameleon fields proposed as a solution to the problem of the origin of dark energy of the universe in the regime with a strongly-nolinear coupling term. In combination with other experiments searching for exotic short-range forces and laser-based measurements, slow neutron experiments are capable of eliminating this and many similar types of scalar-field-based dark energy models by laboratory experiments.