Extrasolar planets as a probe of modified gravity

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method using extrasolar planet data to test and constrain modified gravity theories, focusing on screening mechanisms like Chameleon, Symmetron, and Vainshtein, providing competitive bounds.

Contribution

It demonstrates that exoplanet orbital data can effectively constrain screening mechanisms in modified gravity models, offering a new complementary approach to existing tests.

Findings

Strong constraints on Chameleon and Symmetron models from exoplanet data.

Exoplanet data provides competitive bounds compared to solar system tests.

Results challenge the assumption that the crossover scale equals the Hubble radius.

Abstract

We propose a new method to test modified gravity theories, taking advantage of the available data on extrasolar planets. We computed the deviations from the Kepler third law and use that to constrain gravity theories beyond General Relativity. We investigate gravity models which incorporate three screening mechanisms: the Chameleon, the Symmetron and the Vainshtein. We find that data from exoplanets orbits are very sensitive to the screening mechanisms putting strong constraints in the parameter space for the Chameleon models and the Symmetron, complementary and competitive to other methods, like interferometers and solar system. With the constraints on Vainshtein we are able to work beyond the hypothesis that the crossover scale is of the same order of magnitude than the Hubble radius $r_c \sim H_0^{-1}$, which makes the screening work automatically, testing how strong this hypothesis is and the viability of other scales.