24–28 Aug 2026
Leiden University
Europe/Zurich timezone

Galileons in curved spacetime and numerical challenges

Not scheduled
20m
Gorlaeus gebouw (Leiden University)

Gorlaeus gebouw

Leiden University

Einsteinweg 55, 2333 CC Leiden
Talk Dark Energy / Modified Gravity

Speaker

Mary Gerhardinger (University of Pennsylvania)

Description

The Galileon theory provides an infrared modification of general relativity that incorporates the Vainshtein screening mechanism, suppressing deviations from general relativity on local scales. In this talk, I examine analytic solutions of the Galileon field in curved spacetimes. In a de Sitter background, an additional scale emerges at which the scalar field becomes singular, signaling the onset of strong coupling and the breakdown of the effective field theory description. I assess the viability and stability of spherically symmetric screening solutions in this regime. Finally, I connect these results to numerical studies of Galileon models, highlighting the challenges they pose as examples of ill-posed effective field theories.

Other topic / keywords: Galileons

Author

Mary Gerhardinger (University of Pennsylvania)

Co-authors

Alice Garoffolo (University of Pennsylvania) Prof. Andrew Tolley (Imperial College London) Prof. Kurt Hinterbichler (Case Western Reserve University) Mark Trodden Tom Giblin (Kenyon College)

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.