Searching for dark energy with the Sun
Ippocratis D. Saltas, J{\o}rgen Christensen-Dalsgaard

TL;DR
This paper uses helioseismic data to test scalar-tensor theories of dark energy, placing new constraints on fifth-force effects within the Sun that surpass previous stellar limits by about three orders of magnitude.
Contribution
It introduces a novel method to constrain fifth-force couplings in scalar-tensor theories using solar sound speed measurements, improving existing stellar constraints significantly.
Findings
Fifth-force effects leave detectable signatures in solar sound speed profiles.
Constraints on the fifth-force coupling strength are established as approximately -10^{-3} to 5×10^{-4}.
The method enhances the sensitivity of solar tests of gravity by about three orders of magnitude.
Abstract
General extensions of General Relativity (GR) based on bona fide degrees of freedom predict a fifth force which operates within massive objects, opening up an exciting opportunity to perform precision tests of gravity at stellar scales. Here, focusing on general scalar-tensor theories for dark energy, we utilize the Sun as our laboratory and search for imprints of the fifth-force effect on the solar equilibrium structure. With analytic results and numerical simulations, we explain how the different solar regions offer powerful ways to test gravity. Accounting for the delicate interplay between fifth force and solar microphysics such as opacity, diffusion, equation of state and metallicity, we demonstrate that the fifth force still leaves a sharp signature on the solar sound speed, in a region where simple estimates of input physics uncertainties become negligible. For general…
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Taxonomy
TopicsSolar and Space Plasma Dynamics · Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena · Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
