Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


deskins_dissertation_011018.pdf (1.88 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Constraints on Massive Gravity: A Numerical Study of Galileons

Deskins, Jennings T
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1538490654848361

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Physics.
General Relativity (GR) is a theory of gravity that has successfully modeled gravitational interactions from lab scales to extra-galactic scales. Despite its successes, there are several aspects whose theoretical underpinnings have yet to be understood. In this work we are motivated by understanding the origin of the observed cosmic accelerated expansion. GR is known to be the unique theory describing an interacting massless spin-2 field. The question of whether the graviton has a mass is a fundamental one, which has profound consequences for many areas of physics. Theories of massive gravity are varied but have many features that are shared. Understanding the observable consequences and phenomenology of massive gravity theories allows us to put constraints on the graviton mass. We give a broad overview of the different types of massive gravity theories and their shared features. We also discuss how Galileons can be used to understand the non-linear nature of these theories. In this context we discuss the leading constraints on the graviton mass from observations, and contextualize them to understand the regime of applicability for these bounds. Going into more detail we discuss a bound from binary pulsar systems for theories that exhibit a Galileon scalar field. We show that the Vainshtein Mechanism is less effective in these time-dependent systems. Furthermore we find that perturbation theory is not sufficient to fully understand the Galileon radiation emitted by these systems. Because of this failure we develop a numerical code to solve for the Galileon radiation non-perturbatively. With this numerical work we show that the scaling of the power radiated in these systems with the Vainshtein radius and orbital period agrees with what we found from perturbation theory.
Andrew Tolley (Committee Chair)
Covault Corbin (Committee Member)
Giblin Tom (Committee Member)
Zhao Longhua (Committee Member)
159 p.
Physics
Massive Gravity; Gravity; Massive Graviton; Graviton; Galileon; dRGT; Numerical Simulations; Physics; Cosmology; LIGO; Vainshtein Screening

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Deskins, J. T. (2019). Constraints on Massive Gravity: A Numerical Study of Galileons [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1538490654848361

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Deskins, Jennings. Constraints on Massive Gravity: A Numerical Study of Galileons. 2019. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1538490654848361.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Deskins, Jennings. "Constraints on Massive Gravity: A Numerical Study of Galileons." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1538490654848361

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1538490654848361
303
© 2018, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.