A chameleon helioscope

Abstract: Chameleon particles, which could explain dark energy, are in many ways similar to axions, suggesting that an axion helioscope can be used for chameleon detection. The distinguishing property of chameleon particles is that, unlike Standard Model particles, their effective masses depend upon the ambient matter-energy density. The associated total internal reflection of chameleons up to keV energies by a dense layer of material, which would occur at grazing incidence on the mirrors of an X-ray telescope, lead to new experimental techniques for detecting such particles. We discuss here when this total internal reflection can happen and how it can be implemented in existing or future state-of-the-art chameleon telescopes. Solar Chameleons would be emitted mainly with energies below a few keV suggesting the X-ray telescope as the basic component in chameleon telescopy. The implementation of this idea is straightforward, but it deserves further scrutiny. It seems promising to prepare and run a dark energy particle candidate detection experiment combining existing equipment. For example, large volumes and strong solenoid magnetic fields, which are not appropriate for solar axion investigations, are attractive from the point of view of chameleon telescopy.