2000/09/30 by V. Barger, V Barger, Danny Marfatia · 44 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #COSMIC cancer database #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark energy #Equation of state #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Luminosity distance #Quintessence #Redshift #Scalar field #Supernova #astro-ph #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/s0370-2693(00)01368-x
published in Physics Letters B 498(1-2), 67-73 (Elsevier BV) · Version to appear in PLB
arxiv created 2000/11/30 · openalex publication_date 2001/01/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We consider the efficacy of using luminosity distance measurements of deep redshift supernovae to discriminate between two forms of dark energy, quintessence (a scalar field with canonical kinetic terms rolling down a potential) and k-essence (a scalar field whose cosmic evolution is driven entirely by non-linear kinetic terms). The primary phenomenological distinction between the two types of models that can be quantified by supernova searches (at least in principle) is that the equation of state w≡ p/ρ of quintessence is falling today while that of k-essence is rising. By simulating 105 possible datasets that SNAP could obtain, we show that even if the mass density Ωm is known exactly, an ambiguity remains that may not allow a definitive distinction to be made between the two types of theories.