Testing Chameleons Using Neutron Interferometry

Abstract

Chameleons are a well motivated scalar field that might explain the observed late time accelerated expansion of the universe. Chameleons possess the interesting property that their mass, and hence interaction range, is dependent on the density of their environment. One very appealing feature of chameleons is the potential to test a model of dark energy in a laboratory setting. Here we briefly review two proposed experiments to search for chameleons using neutron interferometry techniques for the Snowmass 2013 Community Summer Study.

2 pages, to be submitted as a White Paper for the Snowmass 2013 Community Summer Study, Intensity Frontier (subgroup IF 5)