Apparent $w<-1$ and a Lower $S_8$ from Dark Axion and Dark Baryons Interactions

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Main Authors: Khoury, Justin, Lin, Meng-Xiang, Trodden, Mark
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Khoury, Justin
Lin, Meng-Xiang
Trodden, Mark
author_facet Khoury, Justin
Lin, Meng-Xiang
Trodden, Mark
contents We show that a simple coupling between dark energy and dark matter can simultaneously address two distinct hints at new physics coming from cosmological observations. The first is the recent evidence from the DESI project and supernovae observations that the dark energy equation of state~$w$ is evolving over cosmic time from an earlier value that is~$<-1$ to a present-day value~$>-1$. The second observation is the so-called~$S_8$ tension, describing the suppression of the growth of matter overdensities compared to that expected in the~$Λ$CDM model. We propose a stable, technically natural particle physics implementation of this idea, in which dark matter consists of dark baryons in a strongly-coupled hidden sector, and the dark energy field is the associated dark axion. The time-variation of the dark matter mass results in an effective dark energy equation of state that exhibits a phantom crossing behavior consistent with recent results. It also results in a slight delay in matter-radiation equality, which suppresses the overall growth of density perturbations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_16415
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Apparent $w<-1$ and a Lower $S_8$ from Dark Axion and Dark Baryons Interactions
Khoury, Justin
Lin, Meng-Xiang
Trodden, Mark
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
We show that a simple coupling between dark energy and dark matter can simultaneously address two distinct hints at new physics coming from cosmological observations. The first is the recent evidence from the DESI project and supernovae observations that the dark energy equation of state~$w$ is evolving over cosmic time from an earlier value that is~$<-1$ to a present-day value~$>-1$. The second observation is the so-called~$S_8$ tension, describing the suppression of the growth of matter overdensities compared to that expected in the~$Λ$CDM model. We propose a stable, technically natural particle physics implementation of this idea, in which dark matter consists of dark baryons in a strongly-coupled hidden sector, and the dark energy field is the associated dark axion. The time-variation of the dark matter mass results in an effective dark energy equation of state that exhibits a phantom crossing behavior consistent with recent results. It also results in a slight delay in matter-radiation equality, which suppresses the overall growth of density perturbations.
title Apparent $w<-1$ and a Lower $S_8$ from Dark Axion and Dark Baryons Interactions
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.16415