Violation of the equivalence principle from light scalar dark matter

Aurelien Hees (1) , Olivier Minazzoli (2) , Etienne Savalle (1) , Yevgeny Stadnik , Peter Wolf (1)

1 SYRTE - Systèmes de Référence Temps Espace
2 ARTEMIS - Astrophysique Relativiste Théories Expériences Métrologie Instrumentation Signaux

In this paper, we study the local observational consequences of a violation of the Einstein Equivalence Principle induced by models of light scalar Dark Matter (DM). We focus on two different models where the scalar field couples linearly or quadratically to the standard model of matter fields. For both these cases, we derive the solutions of the scalar field. We also derive from first principles the expressions for two types of observables: (i) the local comparison of two atomic sensors that are differently sensitive to the constants of Nature and (ii) the local differential acceleration between two test masses with different compositions. For the linear coupling, we recover that the signatures induced by DM on both observables are the sum of harmonic and Yukawa terms. For the quadratic coupling on the other hand, the signatures derived for both types of observables turn out to be the sum of a time-independent term and a harmonic oscillation, whose amplitudes both depend on the position. Such behavior is new and can make experiments in space more sensitive than terrestrial ones. Besides this, the observables present some interesting nonlinear behaviors that are due to the amplification or to the screening of the scalar field, depending on the parameters of the theory, and on the compactness of the source of the gravitational field. Finally, we infer the various limits on the DM coupling parameters by using existing frequency comparisons on the one hand and tests of the universality of free fall on the ground (torsion balances) or in space (MICROSCOPE mission) on the other hand. We show that in the quadratic case, so-called natural parameters are still allowed by observations.

Mots clés: local position invariance; modified gravity; tests of gravity; Dark Matter; universality of free fall

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]; Relativité Générale et Cosmologie Quantique [gr-qc]

Aurelien Hees, Olivier Minazzoli, Etienne Savalle, Yevgeny Stadnik, Peter Wolf. Violation of the equivalence principle from light scalar dark matter. Physical Review D, 2018, 98 (6), ⟨10.1103/PhysRevD.98.064051⟩. ⟨hal-02104815⟩