Scant evidence for thawing quintessence

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wolf, William J., García-García, Carlos, Bartlett, Deaglan J., Ferreira, Pedro G.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Wolf, William J.
García-García, Carlos
Bartlett, Deaglan J.
Ferreira, Pedro G.
author_facet Wolf, William J.
García-García, Carlos
Bartlett, Deaglan J.
Ferreira, Pedro G.
contents New constraints on the expansion rate of the Universe seem to favor evolving dark energy in the form of thawing quintessence models, i.e., models for which a canonical, minimally coupled scalar field has, at late times, begun to evolve away from potential energy domination. We scrutinize the evidence for thawing quintessence by exploring what it predicts for the equation of state. We show that, in terms of the usual Chevalier-Polarski-Linder parameters, ($w_0$, $w_a$), thawing quintessence is, in fact, only marginally consistent with a compilation of the current data. Despite this, we embrace the possibility that thawing quintessence is dark energy and find constraints on the microphysics of this scenario. We do so in terms of the effective mass $m^2$ and energy scale $V_0$ of the scalar field potential. We are particularly careful to enforce un-informative, flat priors on these parameters so as to minimize their effect on the final posteriors. While the current data favors a large and negative value of $m^2$, when we compare these models to the standard $Λ$CDM model we find that there is scant evidence for thawing quintessence.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_17318
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Scant evidence for thawing quintessence
Wolf, William J.
García-García, Carlos
Bartlett, Deaglan J.
Ferreira, Pedro G.
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
New constraints on the expansion rate of the Universe seem to favor evolving dark energy in the form of thawing quintessence models, i.e., models for which a canonical, minimally coupled scalar field has, at late times, begun to evolve away from potential energy domination. We scrutinize the evidence for thawing quintessence by exploring what it predicts for the equation of state. We show that, in terms of the usual Chevalier-Polarski-Linder parameters, ($w_0$, $w_a$), thawing quintessence is, in fact, only marginally consistent with a compilation of the current data. Despite this, we embrace the possibility that thawing quintessence is dark energy and find constraints on the microphysics of this scenario. We do so in terms of the effective mass $m^2$ and energy scale $V_0$ of the scalar field potential. We are particularly careful to enforce un-informative, flat priors on these parameters so as to minimize their effect on the final posteriors. While the current data favors a large and negative value of $m^2$, when we compare these models to the standard $Λ$CDM model we find that there is scant evidence for thawing quintessence.
title Scant evidence for thawing quintessence
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.17318