Constraints on flat cosmologies with tracking quintessence from cosmic microwave background observations

2001/09/30 by Carlo Baccigalupi, Amedeo Balbi, A. Balbi +6 · 81 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Anisotropy #Astrophysics #Baryon #Big Bang nucleosynthesis #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmic microwave background #Cosmological constant #Cosmology #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark energy #Equation of state #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Mathematical physics #Nucleosynthesis #Omega #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Quintessence #Spectral density #Spectral index #Spectral line #Statistics #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.65.063520

published in Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields 65(6) (American Physical Society) · 10 pages, 6 figures, final version accepted for publication on Phys.Rev.D

arxiv created 2002/01/08 · openalex publication_date 2002/03/05 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We constrain cosmological parameters in flat cosmologies with tracking dark energy (or quintessence) using the existing data on cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies. We perform a maximum likelihood analysis using combined data from COBE-DMR, BOOMERanG, DASI and MAXIMA, obtaining estimates for the dark energy density \ensuremathΩ_Q and equation of state w_Q, the physical baryon density \ensuremathΩ_bh², the scalar perturbation spectral index n_S, the ratio R between the tensor and scalar perturbation amplitude (or the tensor spectral index n_T). Dark energy is found to be the dominant cosmological component \ensuremathΩ_Q=0.71_\ensuremath-0.04^+0.05, with an equation of state w_Q=\ensuremath-0.82_\ensuremath-0.11^+0.14 (68% C.L.). Our best fit value of the physical baryon density is in good agreement with the primordial nucleosynthesis bound. We find no significant evidence for deviations from scale invariance, although a scalar spectral index slightly smaller than unity is marginally preferred. Finally, we find that the contribution of cosmological gravitational waves is negligible. These results confirm that quintessence is slightly preferred with respect to ordinary cosmological constant by the present CMB data.

Citations

• First Estimations of Cosmological Parameters From BOOMERANG
• Measurements of Ω and Λ from 42 High‐Redshift Supernovae
• Cosmology with a time-variable cosmological 'constant'
• COBE ‐DMR–normalized Open Cold Dark Matter Cosmogonies
• Classification of scalar field potentials with cosmological scaling solutions
• A measurement of the cosmological mass density from clustering in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey
• Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant
• Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Predictions for Precision Cosmology
• Final Results from theHubble Space TelescopeKey Project to Measure the Hubble Constant
• A flat Universe from high-resolution maps of the cosmic microwave background radiation
• Cosmological consequences of a rolling homogeneous scalar field

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• Cosmological constraints on the dark energy equation of state and its evolution