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Theoretical priors in scalar-tensor cosmologies: thawing quintessence

Abstract:
The late time acceleration of the Universe can be characterized in terms of an extra, time-dependent, component of the Universe—dark energy. The simplest proposal for dark energy is a scalar-tensor theory—quintessence—which consists of a scalar field, ϕ, whose dynamics is solely dictated by its potential, V(ϕ). Such a theory can be uniquely characterized by the equation of state of the scalar field energy momentum-tensor. We find the time dependence of the equation of state for a broad family of potentials and, using this information, we propose an analytic prior distribution for the most commonly used parametrization. We show that this analytic prior can be used to accurately predict the distribution of observables for the next generation of cosmological surveys. Including the theoretical priors in the comparison with observations considerably improves the constraints on the equation of state.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.1103/PhysRevD.101.063508

Authors


More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MPLS
Department:
Physics
Sub department:
Astrophysics
Role:
Author
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MPLS
Department:
Physics
Sub department:
Astrophysics
Role:
Author


Publisher:
American Physical Society
Journal:
Physical Review D More from this journal
Volume:
101
Issue:
6
Article number:
63508
Publication date:
2020-03-05
Acceptance date:
2020-02-17
DOI:
EISSN:
2470-0029
ISSN:
2470-0010


Language:
English
Keywords:
Pubs id:
1098543
Local pid:
pubs:1098543
Deposit date:
2021-04-21

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