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Probing gravitational non-minimal coupling with dark energy surveys
We investigate observational constraints on a specific one-parameter
extension to the minimal quintessence model, where the quintessence field
acquires a quadratic coupling to the scalar curvature through a coupling
constant . The value of is highly suppressed in typical tracker
models if the late-time cosmic acceleration is driven at some field values near
the Planck scale. We test in a second class of models in which the field
value today becomes a free model parameter. We use the combined data from
type-Ia supernovae, cosmic microwave background, baryon acoustic oscillations
and matter power spectrum, to weak lensing measurements and find a best-fit
value where is excluded outside the 95 per cent
confidence region. The effective gravitational constant subject
to the hint of a non-zero is constrained to at the same confidence level on cosmological scales, and can be narrowed
down to when combining with Solar
System tests.Comment: Context extended, figures and references added, title changed to
match with accepted version for publicatio
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