**1. Introduction**

The chameleon field, changing its mass independently of a density of its environment [1,2], has been invented to avoid the problem of the equivalence principle violation [3]. Nowadays it is accepted that the chameleon field, identified with quintessence [4–10], i.e., a canonical scalar field, can be useful for an explanation of the late-time acceleration of the Universe's expansion [11–14] and may shed light on the origins of dark energy and dark energy dynamics [15–21]. Since the relic dark energy density is closely related to the cosmological constant [15], in contrast to such a hypothesis that the chameleon field might originate the cosmological constant proportionally to the homogeneous static dark energy density, it has been shown at the model-independent level within the Einstein–Cartan gravitational theory [22–38] that the cosmological constant or the relic dark energy density has a geometrical origin caused by torsion [39]. In this case the chameleon field is able only to evolve above the relic background of the dark energy simulating its dynamics and, of course, to make a certain influence on the acceleration of the Universe's expansion.

For the observation of torsion in the terrestrial laboratories there have been derived potentials of low-energy torsion–neutron interactions [40–42]. In terrestrial laboratories, the extreme smallness of absolute values of torsion was confirmed in different estimates of constraints on the contributions of torsion to observables of elementary particle interactions [43–48], including the qBounce experiments with ultracold neutrons (UCNs) [49–55] (see also [48]).

The chameleon–matter interactions were also intensively investigated in terrestrial laboratories [49–57] in experiments with ultracold and cold neutrons through some effective low-energy chameleon–neutron potentials [58–61] and by using cold atoms in the atom interferometry [62–66]. However, recently the importance of the chameleon field as quintessence in the late-time acceleration of the Universe has been questioned by Wang et al. [67] and Khoury [68] by pointing out that the conformal factor, relating Einstein's and Jordan's frames and defining the chameleon–matter interactions, is essentially constant over the last Hubble time. According to Wang et al. [67] and Khoury [68], this implies a negligible influence of the chameleon field on the late-time acceleration of the Universe's expansion. To some extent, this should also imply that the chameleon field cannot possess such a property of quintessence as responsibility for the late-time acceleration of the Universe's expansion [5–7].

Thus, the aim of this paper is to investigate the properties of the chameleon field in comparison to the properties of quintessence. We would like to remind readers that by definition, quintessence is a hypothetical state of dark energy described by a canonical scalar field for an explanation of the observable acceleration of the Universe's expansion. We have to also emphasize that our analysis is restricted by the classical Einstein–Cartan gravitational theory. Below we show that the chameleon field has no relation to the origin of the cosmological constant, or the relic dark energy density, which is induced by torsion [39]. However, the chameleon field can still influence on the Universe's expansion even in the late-time acceleration, caused by its evolution above the background of the relic dark energy [39]. By analyzing Einstein's equations for the flat Universe in spacetime with the Friedmann metric, dependent on the expansion parameter *a* [69], we show that conservation of a total energy–momentum tensor of the system, including the chameleon field, radiation and matter (dark and baryon matter), demands the conformal factor to be equal to unity if and only if the dependencies of the radiation *ρr*(*a*) and matter *ρm*(*a*) densities on the expansion parameter *a* do not deviate from their standard forms, *ρr*(*a*) ∼ *a* <sup>−</sup><sup>4</sup> and *<sup>ρ</sup>m*(*a*) <sup>∼</sup> *<sup>a</sup>* −3 respectively [69]. We obtain the same result by analyzing the first order differential Friedmann–Einstein equation, relating *a*˙ <sup>2</sup>/*a* 2 to the chameleon field, radiation and matter densities, and the second order differential Friedmann–Einstein equation, relating *a*¨/*a* to the chameleon field, radiation and matter densities and their pressures, where *a*˙ and *a*¨ are the first and second time derivatives of the expansion parameter. Of course, the equality of the conformal factor to unity suppresses any coupling of the chameleon field to a matter density of its environment and makes such a scalar field unhelpful for avoiding the problem of the equivalence principle violation [3]. However, it does not prevent the chameleon field, evolving above the background of the relic dark energy, from a simulation of a dark energy dynamics and having an influence on the acceleration of the Universe's expansion. Then, we show that the Friedmann–Einstein equation for *a*˙ <sup>2</sup>/*a* 2 is the first integral of the Friedmann–Einstein equation for *a*¨/*a* if and only if the total energy–momentum of the system, including the chameleon field, radiation and matter, is locally conserved. As a result we infer that (i) if the radiation and matter densities obey their standard dependence on the expansion parameter *ρr*(*a*) ∼ *a* <sup>−</sup><sup>4</sup> and *<sup>ρ</sup>m*(*a*) <sup>∼</sup> *<sup>a</sup>* −3 the conformal factor is equal to unity and the chameleon field loses the possibility to couple to an environment, and (ii) if the dependencies of the radiation and matter densities deviate from their standard behavior *ρr*(*a*) ∼ *a* <sup>−</sup><sup>4</sup> and *<sup>ρ</sup>m*(*a*) <sup>∼</sup> *<sup>a</sup>* −3 , the conformal factor is not equal to unity and makes possible interactions of the chameleon field with its environment. In this case, usage of the chameleon field for the problem of equivalence principle violation becomes meaningful. In spite of the fact that the chameleon field does not possess the main property of quintessence in order to be a hypothetical form of dark energy [4], since the relic dark energy density or the cosmological constant has a geometrical origin related to torsion [39], the chameleon field, evolving above the relic dark energy and simulating a dark energy dynamics, might be responsible for an acceleration of the Universe's expansion.

The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2 we derive Einstein's equations in the Einstein–Cartan gravitational theory with torsion, chameleon and matter fields. Following [39] we show that the contribution of torsion to the Einstein–Hilbert action is presented in the form of the cosmological constant. Then, following Khoury and Weltman [1] we include the part of the integrand of the Einstein–Hilbert action proportional to the cosmological constant for the potential of the self-interaction of the chameleon field. This implies that the chameleon field has no relation to an origin of the cosmological constant or the relic dark energy density but can only evolve above such a relic background caused by torsion and simulate dark energy dynamics. In Section 3 in the flat Friedmann spacetime with the standard Friedmann metric *gµν*, i.e., *g*<sup>00</sup> = 1, *g*0*<sup>j</sup>* = 0 and *gij* = *a* 2 (*t*) *ηij* and *ηij* = −*δij*, we show that the Einstein equations reduce themselves to the Friedmann–Einstein equations of the Universe's evolution with the chameleon field, radiation and matter (dark and baryon) densities. Since the Einstein tensor *<sup>G</sup>µν* <sup>=</sup> *<sup>R</sup>µν* <sup>−</sup> <sup>1</sup> 2 *gµνR*, where *Rµν* and *R* are the Ricci tensor and scalar curvature, respectively, obey the Bianchi identity *G µν* ;*<sup>µ</sup>* = 0, where *G µν* ;*<sup>µ</sup>* is the covariant divergence [69], the total energy–momentum tensor of the system, including the chameleon field, radiation and matter (dark and baryon), should be locally conserved. We find that local conservation of the total energy–momentum tensor imposes the evolution equations for the radiation and matter densities, where the dependence of them on the expansion parameter *a* is corrected by the conformal factor in comparison to the standard dependence *ρr*(*a*) ∼ *a* <sup>−</sup><sup>4</sup> and *<sup>ρ</sup><sup>a</sup>* <sup>∼</sup> *<sup>a</sup>* −3 , respectively [69]. We show that the Friedmann–Einstein equation for *a*˙ <sup>2</sup>/*a* 2 is the first integral of the Friedmann–Einstein equation for *a*¨/*a* if and only if the total energy momentum of the system, including the chameleon field, radiation and matter, is locally conserved. In case of the standard dependence of the radiation and matter densities on the expansion parameters *ρr*(*a*) ∼ *a* <sup>−</sup><sup>4</sup> and *<sup>ρ</sup><sup>m</sup>* <sup>∼</sup> *<sup>a</sup>* −3 [69], local conservation of the total energy–momentum tensor of the chameleon field, radiation and matter demand the conformal factor to be equal to unity. This suppresses any interaction of the chameleon field with an ambient environment. In Section 4 we discuss experiments to probe torsion in the terrestrial laboratories through effective low-energy torsion-neutron interactions derived in [40–42]. In Section 5 we discuss the results obtained.
