Quantum corrections in quintessence models

2006/06/30 by Mathias Garny · 29 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark energy #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #Quantum #Quantum mechanics #Quintessence #Theoretical physics #astro-ph #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.74.043009

published in Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields 74(4) (American Physical Society) · 10 pages + appendix, added references

openalex publication_date 2006/08/31 · arxiv created 2006/09/12 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We investigate the impact of quantum fluctuations on a light rolling quintessence field from three different sources, namely, from a coupling to the standard model and dark matter, from its self-couplings, and from its coupling to gravity. We derive bounds for time-varying masses from the change of vacuum energy, finding \ensuremathΔm_e/m_e\ensuremath≪10^\ensuremath-11 for the electron and \ensuremathΔm_p/m_p\ensuremath≪10^\ensuremath-15 for the proton since redshift z\ensuremath∼2, whereas the neutrino masses could change of order one. Mass-varying dark matter is also constrained. Next, the self-interactions are investigated. For inverse power law potentials, the effective potential does not become infinitely large at small field values, but saturates at a finite maximal value. We discuss implications for cosmology. Finally, we show that one-loop corrections induce nonminimal gravitational couplings involving arbitrarily high powers of the curvature scalar R, indicating that quintessence entails modified gravity effects.

Citations

• The fundamental constants and their variation: observational and theoretical status
• Models of quintessence coupled to the electromagnetic field and the cosmological evolution of alpha
• Quantum Fields in Curved Space
• Phenomenology of a Realistic Accelerating Universe Using Only Planck-Scale Physics
• Quintessence and the underlying particle physics theory
• Nucleosynthesis and the time dependence of fundamental couplings
• Quintessence and the Rest of the World: Suppressing Long-Range Interactions
• Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant
• Cosmological consequences of a rolling homogeneous scalar field
• Time variation of the fine structure constant driven by quintessence
• Effective action for composite operators
• Extended quintessence