2005/10/18 by Patrick Martineau, Robert Brandenberger, Martineau, P. +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0510523
openalex publication_date 2005/10/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present a solution to the dark energy problem in terms of the Effective Energy Momentum Tensor (EMT) of cosmological perturbations. The approach makes use of the gravitational back-reaction of long wavelength (super-Hubble) fluctuation modes on the background metric. Our results indicate that, following preheating, the energy density associated with back-reaction is sub-dominant and behaves as a tracker during the radiation era. At the onset of matter domination, however, the effects of back-reaction begin to grow relative to the matter density and the associated equation of state quickly approaches that of a cosmological constant. Using standard values for the preheating temperature and the amplitude of the inflaton following preheating, we show that this mechanism leads to a very natural explanation of dark energy. We comment on other recent attempts to explain the dark energy using back-reaction and their relation to our work.