Related papers: Quintessence's Last Stand?
A significant observational effort has been directed to unveil the nature of the so-called dark energy. However, given the large number of theoretical possibilities, it is possible that such a task cannot be performed on the basis only of…
The influence of a dark component on the first epoch of galaxy formation is analysed by using the ages of the three oldest high-redshift galaxies known in the literature. Our results, based on a spatially flat accelerated Universe driven by…
Using the low limit of cosmic ages from globular cluster and the white dwarfs: $t_0 > 12$Gyr, together with recent new high redshift supernova observations from the HST/GOODS program and previous supernova data, we give a considerable…
We examine the status of various dark energy-models in light of the recently observed SN 1997ff at z \approx 1.7. The modified data still fit a pure cosmological constant \Lambda or a quintessence with an equation of state similar to that…
If the dark energy density asymptotically approaches a nonzero constant, $\rho_{DE} \rightarrow \rho_0$, then its equation of state parameter $w$ necessarily approaches $-1$. The converse is not true; dark energy with $w \rightarrow -1$ can…
We propose and investigate a class of dynamical dark energy models in which the cosmological constant evolves from negative values in the early Universe to a positive value at low redshifts. This framework includes a generalised ladder-step…
Recent analyses from the DESI collaboration suggest that the dark energy density of the Universe may be decreasing with time, slowing the acceleration of the scale factor $a$. Typically these studies are performed assuming an ansatz for the…
In this paper we analyse the possibility of having homogeneous isotropic cosmological models with observers reaching $t=\infty$ in finite proper time. It is shown that just observationally-suggested dark energy models with $w\in(-5/3,-1)$…
Recent measurements suggest our universe has a substantial dark energy component, which is usually interpreted in terms of a cosmological constant. Here we examine how much the form of this dark energy can be modified while still retaining…
Dynamical vacuum energy or quintessence, a slowly varying and spatially inhomogeneous component of the energy density with negative pressure, is currently consistent with the observational data. One potential difficulty with the idea of…
I consider some of the issues we face in trying to understand dark energy. Huge fluctuations in the unknown dark energy equation of state can be hidden in distance data, so I argue that model-independent tests which signal if the…
In this paper, we investigate a quintessence field with an exponential potential motivated by the suggestion of time-varying dark energy from the DESI galaxy survey. Assuming a kination epoch in the early Universe, we analytically derive…
Interacting quintessence models have been proposed to explain or, at least, alleviate the coincidence problem of late cosmic acceleration. In this paper we are concerned with two aspects of these kind of models: (i) the dynamical evolution…
Various astronomical observations point towards the evidence for dark energy. One of the most mysterious problem is the coincidence problem: why dark energy becomes dominant only recently. We present a scenario based on extended…
A model consisting of quintessence scalar field interacting with cold dark matter is considered. Conditions required to reach $w_d=-1$ are discussed. It is shown that depending on the potential considered for the quintessence, reaching the…
Baryon acoustic oscillation data from the first year of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) provide near percent-level precision of cosmic distances in seven bins over the redshift range $z=0.1$-$4.2$. We use this data, together…
It is well-known that Einstein's equations constrain only the total energy-momentum tensor of the cosmic substratum, without specifying the characteristics of its individual constituents. Consequently, cosmological models featuring distinct…
The observational fact that the present values of the densities of dark energy and dark matter are of the same order of magnitude, $\rho_{de0}/\rho_{dm0} \sim \mathcal{O}(1)$, seems to indicate that we are currently living in a very special…
The conceptual difficulties associated with a cosmological constant have led to the investigation of alternative models in which the equation of state parameter, $w=p/\rho$, of the dark energy evolves with time. We show that combining the…
A six parameter cosmological model, involving a vacuum energy density that is extremely tiny compared to fundamental particle physics scales, describes a large body of increasingly accurate astronomical data. In a first part of this brief…