English

Dark-Energy Dynamics Required to Solve the Cosmic Coincidence

Astrophysics 2008-11-26 v2

Abstract

Dynamic dark energy (DDE) models are often designed to solve the cosmic coincidence (why, just now, is the dark energy density ρde\rho_{de}, the same order of magnitude as the matter density ρm\rho_m?) by guaranteeing ρdeρm\rho_{de} \sim \rho_m for significant fractions of the age of the universe. This typically entails ad-hoc tracking or oscillatory behaviour in the model. However, such behaviour is neither sufficient nor necessary to solve the coincidence problem. What must be shown is that a significant fraction of observers see ρdeρm\rho_{de} \sim \rho_m. Precisely when, and for how long, must a DDE model have ρdeρm\rho_{de} \sim \rho_{m} in order to solve the coincidence? We explore the coincidence problem in dynamic dark energy models using the temporal distribution of terrestrial-planet-bound observers. We find that any dark energy model fitting current observational constraints on ρde\rho_{de} and the equation of state parameters w0w_0 and waw_a, does have ρdeρm\rho_{de} \sim \rho_m for a large fraction of observers in the universe. This demotivates DDE models specifically designed to solve the coincidence using long or repeated periods of ρdeρm\rho_{de} \sim \rho_m.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0712.3099,
  title  = {Dark-Energy Dynamics Required to Solve the Cosmic Coincidence},
  author = {Chas A. Egan and Charles H. Lineweaver},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0712.3099},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

16 pages, 8 figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev. D