Constraining modified gravity with atom interferometry

by Dr Benjamin Elder (University of Nottingham, UK)

Thursday 5 Apr 2018, 11:15 → 12:15 Europe/Berlin

room 313

The dark sector presents a challenging puzzle for particle physics and cosmology, motivating one to ask whether or not general relativity is the complete theory of gravity. Traditional modifications to GR are tightly constrained by tests in the solar system and the lab. Modern theories, such as chameleons and symmetrons, contain a screening mechanism by which such constraints are avoided. Recent atom interferometry experiments are capable of accessing the unscreened regime of these theories, and are therefore capable of placing stringent new bounds. I will present what may be learned about modified gravity in light of these new tests, and will describe in particular the strong new bounds that chameleon and symmetron theories receive.