A particle's perspective on screening mechanisms

Sevillano Muñoz, Sergio

Abstract

Screening mechanisms are a natural method for suppressing long-range forces in scalar-tensor theories as they link the local background density to their strength. Focusing on Brans-Dicke theories, those including a non-minimal coupling between a scalar degree of freedom and the Ricci scalar, we study the origin of these screening mechanisms from a field theory perspective, considering the influence of the Standard Model on the mechanisms. Additionally, we further consider the role of scale symmetries on screening, demonstrating that only certain sectors, those obtaining their mass via the Higgs mechanism, contribute to screening the fifth forces. This may have significant implications for baryons, which obtain most of their mass from the gluon's binding energy. However, a definitive statement requires extending these calculations to bound states. We show that the non-minimally coupled field's interactions with the Higgs lead to an extensive region of the parameter space where screening mechanisms create spatially dependent fermion masses. We say that the field over-screens when this effect is more significant than the fifth forces suppressed by screening mechanisms, as we illustrate for the chameleon and symmetron models.

Citation

Sevillano Muñoz, S. (2024). A particle's perspective on screening mechanisms. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2024(12), https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2024/12/052

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 16, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Dec 20, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-12
• Deposit Date: Jan 8, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 8, 2025
• Journal: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
• Electronic ISSN: 1475-7516
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2024
• Issue: 12
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2024/12/052
• Keywords: modified gravity, particle physics - cosmology connection
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3229434