Revisiting the screening mechanism in $f(R)$ gravity

TL;DR

This paper investigates the screening mechanism in $f(R)$ gravity through N-body simulations, revealing its dependence on potential well depth and proposing a criterion for identifying unscreened halos, with implications for galaxy surveys.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the screening mechanism in $f(R)$ gravity, emphasizing the relation between scalar field and potential, and offers a practical condition for simulation analysis.

Findings

Screening depends mainly on potential well depth.

A criterion for identifying unscreened halos is proposed.

Results have potential applications in galaxy survey analysis.

Abstract

We reexamine the screening mechanism in $f(R)$ gravity using N-body simulations. By explicitly examining the relation between the extra scalar field $\delta f_R$ and the gravitational potential $\phi$ in the perturbed Universe, we find that the relation between these two fields plays an important role in understanding the screening mechanism. We show that the screening mechanism in $f(R)$ gravity depends mainly on the depth of the potential well, and find a useful condition for identifying unscreened halos in simulations. We also discuss the potential application of our results to real galaxy surveys.