Cosmological and lunar laser ranging constraints on evolving dark energy in a nonminimally coupled curvature-matter gravity model

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: March, Riccardo, Varela, Miguel Barroso, Bertolami, Orfeu, Bargiacchi, Giada, Muccino, Marco, Dell'Agnello, Simone
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author March, Riccardo
Varela, Miguel Barroso
Bertolami, Orfeu
Bargiacchi, Giada
Muccino, Marco
Dell'Agnello, Simone
author_facet March, Riccardo
Varela, Miguel Barroso
Bertolami, Orfeu
Bargiacchi, Giada
Muccino, Marco
Dell'Agnello, Simone
contents We analyze a cosmological solution to the field equations of a modified gravity model where curvature and matter are nonminimally coupled. The current Universe's accelerated expansion is driven by a cosmological constant while the impact of the nonminimal coupling on the expansion history is recast as an effective equation of state for evolving dark energy. The model is analyzed under a tracking solution that follows the minimum of the effective potential for a scalar field that captures the modified theory's effects. We determine the conditions for the existence of this minimum and for the validity of the tracking solution. Cosmological constraints on the parameters of the model are obtained by resorting to recent outcomes of data from the DESI collaboration in combination with the Pantheon+ and Dark Energy Survey supernovae compilations, which give compatible results that point to the presence of a dynamical behavior for dark energy. The gravity model violates the equivalence principle since it gives rise to a fifth force that implies the Earth and Moon fall differently towards the Sun. The cosmological constraints are intersected with limits resulting from a test of the equivalence principle in the Earth-Moon system based on lunar laser ranging data. We find that a variety of model parameters are consistent with both of these constraints, all while producing a dynamical evolution of dark energy with similarities to that found in recent DESI results.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_10530
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Cosmological and lunar laser ranging constraints on evolving dark energy in a nonminimally coupled curvature-matter gravity model
March, Riccardo
Varela, Miguel Barroso
Bertolami, Orfeu
Bargiacchi, Giada
Muccino, Marco
Dell'Agnello, Simone
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
We analyze a cosmological solution to the field equations of a modified gravity model where curvature and matter are nonminimally coupled. The current Universe's accelerated expansion is driven by a cosmological constant while the impact of the nonminimal coupling on the expansion history is recast as an effective equation of state for evolving dark energy. The model is analyzed under a tracking solution that follows the minimum of the effective potential for a scalar field that captures the modified theory's effects. We determine the conditions for the existence of this minimum and for the validity of the tracking solution. Cosmological constraints on the parameters of the model are obtained by resorting to recent outcomes of data from the DESI collaboration in combination with the Pantheon+ and Dark Energy Survey supernovae compilations, which give compatible results that point to the presence of a dynamical behavior for dark energy. The gravity model violates the equivalence principle since it gives rise to a fifth force that implies the Earth and Moon fall differently towards the Sun. The cosmological constraints are intersected with limits resulting from a test of the equivalence principle in the Earth-Moon system based on lunar laser ranging data. We find that a variety of model parameters are consistent with both of these constraints, all while producing a dynamical evolution of dark energy with similarities to that found in recent DESI results.
title Cosmological and lunar laser ranging constraints on evolving dark energy in a nonminimally coupled curvature-matter gravity model
topic General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.10530