Phi in the Sky: The Quest for Cosmological Scalar Fields (AIP Conference Proceedings / Astronomy and Astrophysics)

Particle physicists have been looking for scalar fields for a long time: the Higgs field, for example, is crucial in the standard particle physics model but it has not been found so far. Similarly, cosmologists have become interested in scalar fields recently and a few tantalizing hints have surfaced in the past few years which could be viewed as direct or indirect evidence for the presence of scalar fields. This workshop discussed the motivation for the existence of scalar fields in nature, assessed their consequences and identified key distinguishing characteristics that might provide strong interests in the coming years. Examples include the evidence for inflation in the early universe, the recent claim of detection of variations of the fine-structure constant (and also the electron-to-proton mass ratio) and the possible detection of a cosmic string through its graviational effect.