Vainshtein screening in a cosmological background in the most general second-order scalar-tensor theory

Abstract

A generic second-order scalar-tensor theory contains a nonlinear derivative self-interaction of the scalar degree of freedom à la Galileon models, which allows for the Vainshtein screening mechanism. We investigate this effect on subhorizon scales in a cosmological background, based on the most general second-order scalar-tensor theory. Our analysis takes into account all the relevant nonlinear terms and the effect of metric perturbations consistently. We derive an explicit form of Newton's constant, which in general is time-dependent and hence is constrained from observations, as suggested earlier. It is argued that in the most general case the inverse-square law cannot be reproduced on the smallest scales. Some applications of our results are also presented. © 2012 American Physical Society.