Can the clustered dark matter and the smooth dark energy arise from the same scalar field
/ Authors
/ Abstract
Cosmological observations suggest the existence of two different kinds of energy densities dominating at small $(\ensuremath{\lesssim}500\mathrm{Mpc})$ and large $(\ensuremath{\gtrsim}1000\mathrm{Mpc})$ scales. The dark matter component, which dominates at small scales, contributes ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{m}\ensuremath{\approx}0.35$ and has an equation of state $p=0,$ while the dark energy component, which dominates at large scales, contributes ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{V}\ensuremath{\approx}0.65$ and has an equation of state $p\ensuremath{\simeq}\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\rho}.$ It is usual to postulate weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) for the first component and some form of scalar field or cosmological constant for the second component. We explore the possibility of a scalar field with a Lagrangian $L=\ensuremath{-}V(\ensuremath{\varphi})\sqrt{1\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\partial}}^{i}\ensuremath{\varphi}{\ensuremath{\partial}}_{i}\ensuremath{\varphi}}$ acting as both clustered dark matter and smoother dark energy and having a scale-dependent equation of state. This model predicts a relation between the ratio $r={\ensuremath{\rho}}_{V}/{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{\mathrm{DM}}$ of the energy densities of the two dark components and an expansion rate n of the universe [with $a(t)\ensuremath{\propto}{t}^{n}]$ in the form $n=(2/3)(1+r).$ For $r\ensuremath{\approx}2,$ we get $n\ensuremath{\approx}2$ which is consistent with observations.
Journal: Physical Review D