Chameleon fields and solar physics

TL;DR

This paper investigates the impact of chameleon scalar fields on solar physics, showing that certain models conflict with helioseismic data, but also proposing a novel interpretation of solar oscillations via quantum vacuum fluctuations of chameleons.

Contribution

It analyzes the effects of chameleon fields on solar models and helioseismic data, and introduces a new perspective linking solar oscillations to quantum vacuum fluctuations of chameleon fields.

Findings

Chameleon fields cause deviations from standard gravity near the Sun's surface.

Standard chameleon models are inconsistent with helioseismic observations.

A new model suggests solar oscillations may be explained by quantum vacuum fluctuations of chameleons.

Abstract

In this article we discuss some aspects of solar physics from the standpoint of the so-called chameleon fields (i.e. quantum fields, typically scalar, where the mass is an increasing function of the matter density of the environment). Firstly, we analyze the effects of a chameleon-induced deviation from standard gravity just below the surface of the Sun. In particular, we develop solar models which take into account the presence of the chameleon and we show that they are inconsistent with the helioseismic data. This inconsistency presents itself not only with the typical chameleon set-up discussed in the literature (where the mass scale of the potential is fine-tuned to the meV), but also if we remove the fine-tuning on the scale of the potential. Secondly, we point out that, in a model recently considered in the literature (we call this model "Modified Fujii's Model"), a conceivable interpretation of the solar oscillations is given by quantum vacuum fluctuations of a chameleon.