Dark energy, extended gravity, and solar system constraints

Dark Energy, Scalar-Tensor Gravity and Large Extra Dimensions

We explore in detail a dilatonic scalar-tensor theory of gravity inspired by large extra dimensions, where a radion field from compact extra dimensions gives rise to quintessence in our 4-dimensional world. We show that the model can give rise to other types of cosmologies as well, some more akin to $k$-essence and possibly variants of phantom dark energy. In our model the field (or radius) stabilization arises from quantum corrections to the effective 4D Ricci scalar. We then show that various constraints nearly determine the model parameters, and give an example of a quintessence-type cosmology consistent with observations. We show that the upcoming SNAP-experiment would easily distinguis…

Interior spacetimes of stars in Palatinif(R)gravity

We study the interior spacetimes of stars in the Palatini formalism of f(R) gravity and derive a generalized Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff and mass equation for a static, spherically symmetric star. We show that matching the interior solution with the exterior Schwarzschild-De Sitter solution in general gives a relation between the gravitational mass and the density profile of a star, which is different from the one in General Relativity. These modifications become neglible in models for which $\delta F(R) \equiv \partial f/\partial R - 1$ is a decreasing function of R however. As a result, both Solar System constraints and stellar dynamics are perfectly consistent with $f(R) = R - \mu^4/R$.