Theory and phenomenology of quintessence

We investigate cosmological models containing quintessence. Quintessence is a hypothetical form of energy distributed almost homogeneously throughout the Universe. We calculate cosmological perturbations and cosmic microwave background anisotropies using gauge-invariant variables. For many models, quintessence fluctuations follow simple power laws at early times. The implications of quintessence on the cosmic microwave background and the age of the universe are described via three intuitive parameters. We quantify the relation between the peaks in the multipole spectrum of the cosmic microwave background to the so called acoustic scale. We show that this acoustic scale is extractable from experimental data. Using this and constraints from structure formation, we considerably restrict two frequently used quintessence models. Quantum loop corrections to the classical quintessence potentials are calculated. From this, models with a coupling to dark matter become unlikely. Finally, we present cmbeasy, a computer code for calculating the cosmic microwave background anisotropies

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Universität Heidelberg

Year

2002

Author dc:creator

• Doran, Michael

Contributors dc:contributor

• Wetterich, Christof

Repository record source_url

http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/archiv/2483

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de:2483