We show that domain walls are probes that enable one to distinguish large-distance modified gravity from general relativity (GR) at short distances. For example, low-tension domain walls are stealth in modified gravity, while they do produce global gravitational effects in GR. We demonstrate this by finding exact solutions for various domain walls in the DGP model. A wall with tension lower than the fundamental Planck scale does not inflate and has no gravitational effects on a 4D observer, since its 4D tension is completely screened by gravity itself. We argue that this feature remains valid in a generic class of models of infrared modified gravity. As a byproduct, we obtain exact solutions for supermassive codimension-2 branes.

• Received 22 December 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.75.124013