Constraining scalar-tensor theories of gravity through observations
| dc.contributor.advisor | Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Nicolas Yunes | en |
| dc.contributor.author | Anderson, David Sutton | en |
| dc.contributor.other | Nicolas Yunes and Enrico Barausse were co-authors of the article, 'The effect of cosmological evolution on solar system constraints and on the scalarization of neutron stars in massless scalar-tensor theories' in the journal 'American physical society' which is contained within this thesis. | en |
| dc.contributor.other | Nicolas Yunes was a co-author of the article, 'Solar system constraints on massless scalar-tensor gravity with positive coupling constant upon cosmological evolution of the scalar field' in the journal 'American physical society' which is contained within this thesis. | en |
| dc.contributor.other | Nicolas Yunes was a co-author of the article, 'Scalar charges and scaling relations in massless scalar-tensor theories' submitted to the journal 'Classical quantum gravity' which is contained within this thesis. | en |
| dc.contributor.other | Paulo Freire and Nicolas Yunes were co-authors of the article, 'Binary pulsar constraints on massless scalar-tensor theories using bayesian statistics' submitted to the journal 'Classical quantum gravity' which is contained within this thesis. | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2019-02-22T15:32:54Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2019-02-22T15:32:54Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2018 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Scalar-tensor theories of gravity have been among the most popular and well-studied alternatives to Einstein's General Relativity. These theories of gravity contain an extra scalar degree of freedom that allows them to rectify some of the limitations of General Relativity but also fail some of the cornerstone tests of gravity that General Relativity passes with flying colors. Because of these conflicting features, it becomes necessary to investigate if scalar-tensor theories can pass current tests of gravity while still allowing for possible deviations from General Relativity in regimes that are not as highly constrained. In this thesis, we present the first self-consistent study of scalar-tensor theories in which we study the effects and constraints from Solar System observations, cosmological evolution of the universe, and the precise timing of binary pulsar systems. We constrain the free parameters of a certain class of massless-scalar-tensor theories first through cosmology and Solar System tests, in which we investigate the consistency between cosmological evolution scenarios and current Solar System observations. We then study strong field tests involving binary pulsar systems and investigate the various constraints that can be placed from measurements of the Keplerian and post-Keplerian parameters that determine the orbits. | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/15076 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science | en |
| dc.rights.holder | Copyright 2018 by David Sutton Anderson | en |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Gravity | en |
| dc.subject.lcsh | General relativity (Physics) | en |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Cosmology | en |
| dc.subject.lcsh | Neutron stars | en |
| dc.title | Constraining scalar-tensor theories of gravity through observations | en |
| dc.type | Dissertation | en |
| mus.data.thumbpage | 29 | en |
| thesis.degree.committeemembers | Members, Graduate Committee: Neil J. Cornish; Bennett Link; Dana W. Longcope; Jiong Qiu. | en |
| thesis.degree.department | Physics. | en |
| thesis.degree.genre | Dissertation | en |
| thesis.degree.name | PhD | en |
| thesis.format.extentfirstpage | 1 | en |
| thesis.format.extentlastpage | 225 | en |