Related papers: Dark Energy and the Refined de Sitter Conjecture
The quest for understanding the late-time acceleration is haunted by an immense freedom in the analysis of dynamical models for dark energy in extended parameter spaces. Often-times having no prior knowledge at our disposal, arbitrary…
Scalar fields aptly describe equation of state of dark energy. The scalar field models were initially proposed to circumvent the fine tuning problem of cosmological constant. However, the model parameters also need a fine tuning of their…
In extended quintessence models, a scalar field which couples to the curvature scalar R provides most of the energy density of the universe. We point out that such models can also lead naturally to a decrease in the primordial abundance of…
Quintessence models have been widely examined in the context of scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity, a subclass of Horndeski's theory, and were proposed as viable candidates for Dark Energy. However, the relatively recent observational constraints…
We investigate a class of models for dark matter and/or negative-pressure, dynamical dark energy consisting of ``spintessence,'' a complex scalar field $\phi$ spinning in a U(1)-symmetric potential $V(\phi)=V(|\phi|)$. As the Universe…
The mystery of the Dark energy is not just its smallness. The extreme fine tuning of its density in the Early Universe such that it permits galaxy formation before creating a new inflationary epoch is its other unexplained aspect. Here we…
Axions have emerged as compelling candidates for describing the dark sector of the Universe. In this work, we explore quintessence models inspired by axion-like potentials as a dynamical alternative to the cosmological constant. These…
The Swampland de Sitter conjecture in combination with upper limits on the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ derived from observations of the cosmic microwave background endangers the paradigm of slow-roll single field inflation. This conjecture…
We show that one can find de Sitter critical points (saddle points) in models of flux compactification of Type IIB String Theory without any uplifting terms and in the presence of several moduli. We demonstrate this by giving explicit…
Dimensional reduction has proven to be a surprisingly powerful tool for delineating the boundary between the string landscape and the swampland. Bounds from the Weak Gravity Conjecture and the Repulsive Force Conjecture, for instance, are…
We discuss, in the context of alternative theories of gravity with nonminimal coupling between matter and curvature, if inflationary solutions driven by a single scalar field can be reconciled with the swampland conjectures about the…
Decaying vacuum cosmological models evolving smoothly between two extreme (very early and late time) de Sitter phases are capable to solve or at least to alleviate some cosmological puzzles, among them: (i) the singularity, (ii) horizon,…
Cosmological models with variable and modified equations of state for dark energy are confronted with observational data, including Type Ia supernovae, Hubble parameter data $H(z)$ from different sources, and observational manifestations of…
The dynamical properties of a model of dark energy in which two scalar fields are coupled by a non-canonical kinetic term are studied. We show that overall the addition of the coupling has only minor effects on the dynamics of the two-field…
We discuss some of the issues which we encounter when we try to invoke the scalar-tensor theories of gravitation as a theoretical basis of quintessence. One of the advantages of appealing to these theories is that they allow us to implement…
We examine a dark energy model where a scalar unparticle degree of freedom plays the role of quintessence. In particular, we study a model where the unparticle degree of freedom has a standard kinetic term and a simple mass potential, the…
We construct a family of viable scalar-tensor models of dark energy (DE) which possess a phase of late-time acceleration preceded by a standard matter era, while at the same time satisfying the local gravity constraints (LGC). The coupling…
Over the last few years, a large family of cosmological attractor models has been discovered, which can successfully match the latest inflation-related observational data. Many of these models can also describe a small cosmological constant…
The recent result of Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) in combination with other cosmological data shows evidence of the evolving dark energy parameterized by $w_0w_a$CDM model. We interpret this result in terms of a…
In axion quintessence, the cosmological era with an energy contrast in dark energy 0.1 < Omega_DE < 0.9 may represent a significant fraction of the universe's lifetime if the minimum of the axion potential is negative (unstable axion…