\texttt{enics}: Vainshtein screening with the finite element method

DOI10.1088/1475-7516/2021/03/010zbMATH Open1484.83080arXiv2011.07037OpenAlexW3133584656MaRDI QIDQ5025980FDOQ5025980

Authors: Jonathan Braden, Clare Burrage, Benjamin Elder, Daniela Saadeh 

Publication date: 7 February 2022

Published in: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Within the landscape of modified theories of gravity, progress in understanding the behaviour of, and developing tests for, screening mechanisms has been hindered by the complexity of the field equations involved, which are nonlinear in nature and characterised by a large hierarchy of scales. This is especially true of Vainshtein screening, where the fifth force is suppressed by high-order derivative terms which dominate within a radius much larger than the size of the source, known as the Vainshtein radius. In this work, we present the numerical code $varphi$enics, building on the FEniCS library, to solve the full equations of motion from two theories of interest for screening: a model containing high-order derivative operators in the equation of motion and one characterised by nonlinear self-interactions in two coupled scalar fields. We also include functionalities that allow the computation of higher-order operators of the scalar fields in post-processing, enabling us to check that the profiles we find are consistent solutions within the effective field theory. These two examples illustrate the different challenges experienced when trying to simulate such theories numerically, and we show how these are addressed within this code. The examples in this paper assume spherical symmetry, but the techniques may be straightforwardly generalised to asymmetric configurations. This article therefore also provides a worked example of how the finite element method can be employed to solve the screened equations of motion. $varphi$enics is publicly available and can be adapted to solve other theories of screening.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.07037

Recommendations

• Screening mechanisms in modified gravity
• Massive Galileons and Vainshtein screening
• The shape dependence of Vainshtein screening in the cosmic matter bispectrum
• Screening vector field modifications of general relativity
• Screening vs. gevolution: in chase of a perfect cosmological simulation code

zbMATH Keywords

modified gravitydark energy theory

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Equations of motion in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C10) Relativistic gravitational theories other than Einstein's, including asymmetric field theories (83D05) Effective quantum field theories (81T12) Dark matter and dark energy (83C56) Mathematical modeling or simulation for problems pertaining to relativity and gravitational theory (83-10)

Cites Work

• Solving PDEs in Python. The FEniCS tutorial I
• Automated solution of differential equations by the finite element method. The FEniCS book
• Chebyshev and Fourier spectral methods.
• \(f(R)\) theories of gravity
• Helicity decomposition of ghost-free massive gravity
• Massive Galileon positivity bounds
• hi_class background evolution, initial conditions and approximation schemes
• Introduction to numerical methods for variational problems
• Scalar gravitational radiation from binaries: Vainshtein mechanism in time-dependent systems
• Massive Galileons and Vainshtein screening
• The shape dependence of chameleon screening
• Speeding upN-body simulations of modified gravity: chameleon screening models
• Simulation techniques for modified gravity
• MGCAMB with massive neutrinos and dynamical dark energy

Cited In (5)

• Chameleon screening depends on the shape and structure of NFW halos
• Chameleon screening in cosmic voids
• SELCIE: a tool for investigating the chameleon field of arbitrary sources
• Numerical methods for scalar field dark energy in tabletop experiments and lunar laser ranging
• Fifth-force screening around extremely compact sources

Uses Software

• FEniCS
• minpack
• MGCAMB
• CLASS

This page was built for publication: \(\varphi\)\texttt{enics}: Vainshtein screening with the finite element method

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q5025980)