Vacuum Brans-Dicke theory in the Jordan and Einstein frames: can they be distinguished by lensing?


Abstract in English

Vacuum Brans-Dicke theory can be self-consistently described in two frames, the Jordan frame (JF) and the conformally rescaled Einstein frame (EF), the transformations providing an easy passage from one frame to the other at the level of actions and solutions. Despite this, the conformal frames are inequivalent describing different geometries. It is shown that the predictions of the weak field lensing (WFL) observables in the EF are different from those recently obtained in the JF for the vacuum Brans-Dicke class 1 solution. The value of the Brans-Dicke coupling parameter $omega$ from the Cassini spacecraft experiment reveals the degree of accuracy needed to experimentally distinguish the WFL measurements including the total magnification factor in the two frames.

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