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Abstract:

The Novel Probes Project, an initiative to advance the field of astrophysical tests of the dark sector by creating a forum that connects observers and theorists, is introduced. This review focuses on tests of gravity and is intended to be of use primarily to observers, as well as theorists with an interest in the development of experimental tests. It is twinned with a separate upcoming review on dark matter self-interactions. The review focuses on astrophysical tests of gravity in the weak-field regime, ranging from stars to quasilinear cosmological scales. This regime is complementary to both strong-field tests of gravity and background and linear probes in cosmology. In particular, the nonlinear screening mechanisms that are an integral part of viable modified-gravity models lead to characteristic signatures, specifically on astrophysical scales. The potential of these probes is not limited by cosmic variance but comes with the challenge of building robust theoretical models of the nonlinear dynamics of stars, galaxies, and large-scale structure. The groundwork is laid for a thorough exploration of the weak-field, nonlinear regime, with an eye to using the current and next generation of observations for tests of gravity. The scene is set by showing how gravitational theories beyond general relativity are expected to behave, focusing primarily on screening mechanisms. Analytic and numerical techniques for exploring the relevant astrophysical regime are described, as are the pertinent observational signals. With these in hand a range of astrophysical tests of gravity are presented, and prospects for future measurements and theoretical developments are discussed.

Abstract:

Galileons are scalar field theories which obey the Galileon symmetry $\varphi \to \varphi + b + c_\mu x^\mu$ and are capable of self-acceleration if they have an inverted sign for the kinetic term. These theories violate the Strong Equivalence Principle, such that black holes (BHs) do not couple to the Galileon field, whereas non-relativistic objects experience a fifth force with strength $\Delta G / G_{\rm N}$ relative to gravity. For galaxies falling down a gradient in the Galileon field, this results in an offset between the centre of the galaxy and its host supermassive BH. We reconstruct the local gravitational and Galileon fields through a suite of constrained N-body simulations (which we dub CSiBORG) and develop a Monte Carlo-based forward model for these offsets on a galaxy-by-galaxy basis. Using the measured offset between the optical centre and active galactic nucleus of 1916 galaxies from the literature, propagating uncertainties in the input quantities and marginalising over an empirical noise model describing astrophysical and observational noise, we constrain the Galileon coupling to be $\Delta G / G_{\rm N} < 0.16$ at $1\sigma$ confidence for Galileons with crossover scale $r_{\rm C} \gtrsim H_0^{-1}$.

Abstract:

We perform a novel test of general relativity by measuring the gravitational constant in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The LMC contains six well-studied Cepheid variable stars in detached eclipsing binaries. Radial velocity and photometric observations enable a complete orbital solution, and precise measurements of the Cepheids' periods permit detailed stellar modelling. Both are sensitive to the strength of gravity, the former via Kepler's third law and the latter through the gravitational free-fall time. We jointly fit the observables for stellar parameters and the gravitational constant. Performing a full Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis of the parameter space including all relevant nuisance parameters, we constrain the gravitational constant in the Large Magellanic Cloud relative to the Solar System to be ${G}_{\mathrm{LMC}}/{G}_{\mathrm{SS}}=0.9{3}_{\ensuremath{-}0.04}^{+0.05}$. We discuss the implications of this 5% measurement of Newton's constant in another galaxy for dark energy and modified gravity theories. This result excludes one Cepheid, CEP-1812, which is an outlier and needs further study: it is either a highly unusual system to which our model does not apply, or it prefers ${G}_{\mathrm{LMC}}<{G}_{\mathrm{SS}}$ at $2.6\ensuremath{\sigma}$. We also obtain new bounds on critical parameters that appear in semianalytic descriptions of stellar processes. In particular, we measure the mixing length parameter to be $\ensuremath{\alpha}=0.9{0}_{\ensuremath{-}0.26}^{+0.36}$ (when assumed to be constant across our sample), and obtain constraints on the parameters describing turbulent dissipation and convective flux.

Abstract:

f ( R ) is a paradigmatic modified gravity theory that typifies extensions to General Relativity with new light degrees of freedom and hence screened fifth forces between masses. These forces produce observable signatures in galaxy morphology, caused by a violation of the weak equivalence principle due to a differential impact of screening among galaxies’ mass components. We compile statistical datasets of two morphological indicators—offsets between stars and gas in galaxies and warping of stellar disks—and use them to constrain the strength and range of a thin-shell-screened fifth force. This is achieved by applying a comprehensive set of upgrades to past work [H. Desmond et al., Phys. Rev. D 98, 064015 (2018); H. Desmond et al., Phys. Rev. D 98, 083010 (2018) ]: we construct a robust galaxy-by-galaxy Bayesian forward model for the morphological signals, including full propagation of uncertainties in the input quantities and marginalization over an empirical model describing astrophysical noise. Employing more stringent data quality cuts than previously we find no evidence for a screened fifth force of any strength Δ G / G N in the Compton wavelength range 0.3–8 Mpc, setting a 1 σ bound of Δ G / G N < 0.8 at λ C = 0.3     Mpc that strengthens to Δ G / G N < 3 × 10 − 5 at λ C = 8     Mpc . These are the tightest bounds to date beyond the Solar System by over an order of magnitude. For the Hu-Sawicki model of f ( R ) with n = 1 we require a background scalar field value f R 0 < 1.4 × 10 − 8 , forcing practically all astrophysical objects to be screened. We conclude that this model can have no relevance to astrophysics or cosmology.