Double-sphere enhanced optomechanical spectroscopy constrains symmetron dark energy

Abstract

Screened scalar fields such as the symmetron provide a viable description of dark energy yet their laboratory detection remains challenging. We propose an optomechanical scheme to constrain symmetron interactions using two optically levitated nanospheres inside a cavity. The symmetron-mediated interaction induces an effective coupling which leads to a measurable splitting in the optomechanical resonance spectrum. We forecast constraints in the regime $\mu \sim 10^{-2}$eV-$10^{-4}$ eV, which shows that this approach can improve existing laboratory bounds by up to several orders of magnitude, demonstrating the sensitivity of optomechanical spectroscopy to screened fifth forces.

12 pages, 7 figures