Phantom cosmologies

2003/11/30 by Vinod B. Johri, V. B. Johri · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-th

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.70.041303

published as Phys.Rev. D70 (2004) 041303 · 12 pages, revtex, 3 figures, 1 table, references added

arxiv created 2004/04/03 · openalex publication_date 2004/08/24 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

The dynamics of a minimally coupled scalar field in the expanding universe is discussed with special reference to phantom cosmology. The evolution of the universe with a phantom field vis-\`a-vis a quintessence field is compared. Phantom cosmologies are found to have two special features: (i) occurrence of a singularity where the scale factor, the energy density, and Ricci curvature scalar diverge to infinity (this singularity occurs at a finite time, depending on the value of w during cosmic evolution), and (ii) degeneracy in the determination of w(z_m) for a given transition redshift z_m which seems to impart similar observational properties to corresponding phantom and quintessence models and makes both of them compatible with the cosmological observations. Although due to the uncertainties in the measurement of the Hubble constant H₀, the Hubble dependent observational parameters yield only loose constraints over the range of w, the duality in the determination of w with respect to transition redshift may be used to constrain w. An observational test, based upon the observations of low redshift galactic clusters, is suggested to discriminate between the quintessence and phantom dark energy.

Citations

• Phantom Energy: Dark Energy withw<−1Causes a Cosmic Doomsday
• Measurements of Ω and Λ from 42 High‐Redshift Supernovae
• Cosmological Constant - the Weight of the Vacuum
• Search for tracker potentials in quintessence theory
• Classification of scalar field potentials with cosmological scaling solutions
• Nearly scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations may be from a very slowly expanding phase of the Universe
• The cosmological constant and dark energy
• Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant
• First Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Preliminary Maps and Basic Results
• A theoretician's analysis of the supernova data and the limitations in determining the nature of dark energy
• First‐Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters
• Cosmological consequences of a rolling homogeneous scalar field
• Generalized phantom energy
• The Case for a Positive Cosmological Lambda-term

Cited by

• Effective Phantom Dark Energy: What Cosmological Reconstruction Does and Does Not Imply
• Vinod Johri [wikipedia]