Noether symmetry in $f(R)$ cosmology

The Noether symmetry of a generic $f(R)$ cosmological model is investigated by utilizing the behavior of the corresponding Lagrangian under the infinitesimal generators of the desired symmetry. We explicitly calculate the form of $f(R)$ for which such symmetries exist. It is shown that the resulting form of $f(R)$ yields a power law expansion for the cosmological scale factor. We also obtain the effective equation of state parameter for the corresponding cosmology and show that our model can provide a gravitational alternative to the quintessence.