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Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto

E-ELT constraints on runaway dilaton scenarios

M. Martinelli, E. Calabrese, C. J. A. P. Martins

Abstract
We use a combination of simulated cosmological probes and astrophysical tests of the stability of the fine-structure constant α, as expected from the forthcoming European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), to constrain the class of string-inspired runaway dilaton models of Damour, Piazza and Veneziano. We consider three different scenarios for the dark sector couplings in the model and discuss the observational differences between them. We improve previously existing analyses investigating in detail the degeneracies between the parameters ruling the coupling of the dilaton field to the other components of the universe, and studying how the constraints on these parameters change for different fiducial cosmologies. We find that if the couplings are small (e.g., αb = αV ~ 0) these degeneracies strongly affect the constraining power of future data, while if they are sufficiently large (e.g., αb  ≳ 10−5−αV  ≳ 0.05, as in agreement with current constraints) the degeneracies can be partially broken. We show that E-ELT will be able to probe some of this additional parameter space.

Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Volume 11, Page 030
November 2015

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Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences

Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences (IA) is a new but long anticipated research infrastructure with a national dimension. It embodies a bold but feasible vision for the development of Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Sciences in Portugal, taking full advantage and fully realizing the potential created by the national membership of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO). IA resulted from the merging the two most prominent research units in the field in Portugal: the Centre for Astrophysics of the University of Porto (CAUP) and the Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics of the University of Lisbon (CAAUL). It currently hosts more than two-thirds of all active researchers working in Space Sciences in Portugal, and is responsible for an even greater fraction of the national productivity in international ISI journals in the area of Space Sciences. This is the scientific area with the highest relative impact factor (1.65 times above the international average) and the field with the highest average number of citations per article for Portugal.

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