2017/09/30 by Satadru Bag, Swagat S. Mishra, Varun Sahni · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph.CO #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2018/08/009
published as JCAP 08 (2018) 009 · 24 pages, 16 figures, matches published version in JCAP
arxiv created 2018/08/15 · arxiv updated 2018/08/16
We describe a new class of dark energy (DE) models which behave like cosmological trackers at early times. These models are based on the α-attractor set of potentials, originally discussed in the context of inflation. The new models allow the current acceleration of the universe to be reached from a wide class of initial conditions. Prominent examples of this class of models are the potentials \cothφ and \coshφ. A remarkable feature of this new class of models is that they lead to large enough negative values of the equation of state at the present epoch, consistent with the observations of accelerated expansion of the universe, from a very large initial basin of attraction. They therefore avoid the fine tuning problem which afflicts many models of DE.