Solar System Constraints on Gauss-Bonnet Mediated Dark Energy

Abstract

Although the Gauss-Bonnet term is a topological invariant for general relativity, it couples naturally to a quintessence scalar field, modifying gravity at solar system scales. We determine the solar system constraints due to this term by evaluating the post-Newtonian metric for a distributional source. We find a mass dependent, 1/r^7 correction to the Newtonian potential, and also deviations from the Einstein gravity prediction for light-bending. We constrain the parameters of the theory using planetary orbits, the Cassini spacecraft data, and a laboratory test of Newton's law, always finding extremely tight bounds on the energy associated to the Gauss-Bonnet term. We discuss the relevance of these constraints to late-time cosmological acceleration.

13 pages

References in corpus (3)

• Gauss-Bonnet cosmologies: crossing the phantom divide and the transition from matter dominance to dark energy
• Post-Newtonian expansion for Gauss-Bonnet Gravity
• A New Dimension Hidden in the Shadow of a Wall

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Construction of cosmologically viable f(G) gravity models
• Higher order gravity theories and their black hole solutions
• Observational Bounds on Modified Gravity Models
• Liouville-like solutions in dilaton gravity with Gauss-Bonnet modifications
• Pseudo-redundant vacuum energy
• Mimicking general relativity in the solar system
• Solar System Constraints on f(G) Dark Energy