Spatial dependence of the growth factor in scalar-tensor cosmology

Abstract

Scalar-tensor theories have taken on a key role in attempts to confront the growing open questions in standard cosmology. It is important to understand entirely their dynamics at perturbative level including any possible spatial dependence in their growth of large scale structures. In this work, we investigate the spatial dependence of the growth rate of scalar-tensor theories through the Mészáros equation. We confirm that at subhorizon level this dependence does not play a major role for viable models. However, we establish conditions on which this criterion is met which may be important for developing new models. In our work, we consider three specific models that exhibit spatial dependence of the growth rate at subhorizon modes, which may also be important for early Universe models.