Probing Modified Gravity with Atom-Interferometry: a Numerical Approach

Understand

Refined constraints on chameleon theories are calculated for atom-interferometry experiments, using a numerical approach consisting in solving for a four-region model the static and spherically symmetric Klein-Gordon equation for the chameleon field.

• By modeling not only the test mass and the vacuum chamber but also its walls and the exterior environment, the method allows to probe new effects on the scalar field profile and the induced acceleration of atoms.
• In the case of a weakly perturbing test mass, the effect of the wall is to enhance the field profile and to lower the acceleration inside the chamber by up to one order of magnitude.
• In the thin-shell regime, results are found to be in good agreement with the analytical estimations, when measurements are realized in the immediate vicinity of the test mass.