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PhysRevD.72.083511.pdf (1.83 MB)

Direct reconstruction of the quintessence potential

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 07:38 authored by Martin Sahlén, Andrew R Liddle, David Parkinson
We describe an algorithm which directly determines the quintessence potential from observational data, without using an equation of state parametrization. The strategy is to numerically determine observational quantities as a function of the expansion coefficients of the quintessence potential, which are then constrained using a likelihood approach. We further impose a model selection criterion, the Bayesian Information Criterion, to determine the appropriate level of the potential expansion. In addition to the potential parameters, the present day quintessence field velocity is kept as a free parameter. Our investigation contains unusual model types, including a scalar field moving on a flat potential, or in an uphill direction, and is general enough to permit oscillating quintessence field models. We apply our method to the “gold“ Type Ia supernovae sample of Riess et al. [ A.?G. Riess et al. Astrophys. J. 607 665 (2004) confirming the pure cosmological constant model as the best description of current supernovae luminosity-redshift data. Our method is optimal for extracting quintessence parameters from future data.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Physical Review D

ISSN

1550-7998

Publisher

American Physical Society

Issue

8

Volume

72

Page range

083511.1-083511.9

Department affiliated with

  • Physics and Astronomy Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2016-03-22

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-08-17

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