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arXiv · 2012.03710

The gravitational Higgs mechanism and resulting smoking gun effects

Verena Krall·Andrew Coates·Kostas D. Kokkotas
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Abstract

Recently, a toy model was introduced to demonstrate that screening mechanisms in alternative theories of gravitation can hide additional effects. In this model a scalar field is charged under a $U(1)$ symmetry. In sufficiently compact objects the scalar field spontaneously grows, i.e. the object scalarizes, spontaneously breaking the $U(1)$ symmetry. Exactly as in the $U(1)$ Higgs mechanism this leads to the emergence of a mass for the gauge field. The aim of this paper is to provide an example of the physical consequences if we consider this toy model as a prototype of Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP) violations. We model neutron stars with a dipolar magnetic field to compare the magnetic field behaviour of stars in Einstein-Maxwell theory on the one hand and in scalar-tensor theory with the, so-called, gravitational Higgs mechanism on the other hand.

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Verena Krall, Andrew Coates, Kostas D. Kokkotas. 2020-12-07. The gravitational Higgs mechanism and resulting smoking gun effects. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.102.124065

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