Cosmological Variation of Proton-to-Electron Mass Ratio in a Chameleon-Brans-Dicke Theory

Abstract

We investigate the cosmological variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio, $\mu =m_p/m_e$, within a generalized Brans-Dicke framework with two scalar fields : a geometric scalar field governing the effective gravitational coupling and a matter field whose effective potential has a Higgs-like symmetry-breaking structure. We consider a cosmological background described by a Padé-deformed $\Lambda$CDM and constrain it using a combination of late-time cosmological observational data-sets. We use the resulting expansion history to reconstruct the scalar-field and the matter-sector vacuum expectation value. We calculate the induced variation of $\mu$ and compare it with observational constraints from quasar absorption spectra. We find that a standard Brans-Dicke model with a minimally coupled Higgs-like field produces an unphysical variation of $\mu$. Only after introducing a chameleon-like coupling between the Brans-Dicke scalar and the baryonic matter, we find that the resulting variation is well-suppressed and satisfies the observational bounds.

arXiv comment12 Pages, 8 Figures, Reformatted, Comments are welcome