Title

Measuring the Speed of Sound of Quintessence

Author(s)/Creator(s)

Christian Armendariz-Picon, Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NYFollow
Joel K. Erickson, Princeton University
R. R. Caldwell, Dartmouth College
Paul J. Steinhardt, Princeton University
V. Mukhanov, Ludwig Maximilians Universitat, Munchen

Document Type

Article

Date

12-19-2001

Language

English

Disciplines

Physics

Description/Abstract

Quintessence, a time-varying energy component that may account for the accelerated expansion of the universe, can be characterized by its equation of state and sound speed. In this paper, we show that if the quintessence density is at least one percent of the critical density at the surface of last scattering the cosmic microwave background anisotropy can distinguish between models whose sound speed is near the speed of light versus near zero, which could be useful in distinguishing competing candidates for dark energy.

Additional Information

11 pages, 5 figures More information at http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0112438

Recommended Citation

Armendariz-Picon, Christian; Erickson, Joel K.; Caldwell, R. R.; Steinhardt, Paul J.; and Mukhanov, V., "Measuring the Speed of Sound of Quintessence" (2001). Physics - All Scholarship. 233.
https://surface.syr.edu/phy/233

Source

Harvested from Arxiv.org