Hunting for Chameleons in ALP searches

We discuss some recent developments in chameleon models presented at the Fourth Patras workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs. In particular we discuss the possibility of searching for chameleons in axion-like particle searches performed in the laboratory. Such chameleons may couple to both photons and matter with different coupling strengths. We discuss the exciting possibility of searching for these dark energy candidates in quantum vacuum experiments - in particular for the GammeV experiment at Fermilab.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, Contribution to the ``4th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs'', 18-21 June 2008, Hamburg, German

Chameleons on the Racetrack

We modify the ansatz for embedding chameleon scalars in string theory proposed in [1] by considering a racetrack superpotential with two KKLT-type exponentials $e^{ia\varrho}$ instead of one. This satisfies all experimental constraints, while also allowing for the chameleon to be light enough on cosmological scales to be phenomenologically interesting.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur

A natural cosmological constant from chameleons

We present a simple model where the effective cosmological constant appears from chameleon scalar fields. For a Kachru-Kallosh-Linde-Trivedi (KKLT)-inspired form of the potential and a particular chameleon coupling to the local density, patches of approximately constant scalar field potential cluster around regions of matter with density above a certain value, generating the effect of a cosmological constant on large scales. This construction addresses both the cosmological constant problem (why $\Lambda$ is so small, yet nonzero) and the coincidence problem (why $\Lambda$ is comparable to the matter density now).Comment: 9 pages; explanations, footnotes and references adde

Alignments of parity even/odd-only multipoles in CMB

We compare the statistics of parity even and odd multipoles of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) sky from PLANCK full mission temperature measurements. An excess power in odd multipoles compared to even multipoles has previously been found on large angular scales. Motivated by this apparent parity asymmetry, we evaluate directional statistics associated with even compared to odd multipoles, along with their significances. Primary tools are the \emph{Power Tensor} and \emph{Alignment Tensor} statistics. We limit our analysis to the first sixty multipoles i.e., $l=[2,61]$. We find no evidence for statistically unusual alignments of even parity multipoles. More than one independent statistic finds evidence for alignments of anisotropy axes of odd multipoles, with a significance equivalent to $\sim 2 \sigma$ or more. The robustness of alignment axes is tested by making galactic cuts and varying the multipole range. Very interestingly, the region spanned by the (a)symmetry axes is found to broadly contain other parity (a)symmetry axes previously observed in the literature.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, Matches the version accepted in MNRA