Do Bound Structures Brake Cosmic Acceleration?
Abstract
In this paper we investigate the impact of the coupling between a quintessence field and clustered matter on the average equation of state of the scalar field. We take the NFW profile to be characteristic of bound structures on galactic and cluster scales, and the isothermal distribution to hold for objects on supercluster scales. Solving analytically for the scalar-field profile, we find that the greatest impact on the equation of state comes from the superclusters. Employing numerical case studies, we verify this effect and probe its dependence on the evolutionary state of the supercluster. An estimate across the Hubble volume yields corrections to the homogeneous equation of state of ~3%, increasing with coupling strength.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0912.3157,
title = {Do Bound Structures Brake Cosmic Acceleration?},
author = {Lily Schrempp and Iain A. Brown},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0912.3157},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
31 pages, 11 figures. Replaced with version published by JCAP -- discussion concerning the strength of the scalar/matter coupling added