Rapidly descending dark energy and the end of cosmic expansion

Journal Article · Tue Apr 05 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2200539119· OSTI ID:1861146

Andrei, Cosmin ^[1]; Ijjas, Anna ^[2]; Steinhardt, Paul J.  ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
2. Department of Physics, Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, New York University, New York, NY 10003

If dark energy is a form of quintessence driven by a scalar field $$\phi$$ evolving down a monotonically decreasing potential V($$\phi$$) that passes sufficiently below zero, the universe is destined to undergo a series of smooth transitions. The currently observed accelerated expansion will cease; soon thereafter, expansion will come to end altogether; and the universe will pass into a phase of slow contraction. In this paper, we consider how short the remaining period of expansion can be given current observational constraints on dark energy. We also discuss how this scenario fits naturally with cyclic cosmologies and recent conjectures about quantum gravity.

• Research Organization: Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC); Simons Foundation
• Grant/Contract Number: DEFG02-91ER40671; FG02-91ER40671; 663083; 654561; SC0007968
• OSTI ID: 1861146
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1904591; OSTI ID: 1997834
• Journal Information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Vol. 119 Journal Issue: 15; ISSN 0027-8424
• Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS