Tracker Behavior
Many models of quintessence have a tracker behavior, which according to Paul Steinhardt et al. (1999) partly solves the cosmological constant problem. In these models, the quintessence field has a density which closely tracks (but is less than) the radiation density until matter-radiation equality, which triggers quintessence to start having characteristics similar to dark energy, eventually dominating the universe. This naturally sets the low scale of the dark energy. When comparing the predicted expansion rate of the universe as given by the tracker solutions with cosmological data, a main feature of tracker solutions is that one needs four parameters to properly describe the behavior of their equation of state, whereas it has been shown that at most a two-parameter model can optimally be constrained by mid-term future data (horizon 2015-2020).
Read more about this topic: Quintessence (physics)
Famous quotes containing the word behavior:
“No one thinks anything silly is suitable when they are an adolescent. Such an enormous share of their own behavior is silly that they lose all proper perspective on silliness, like a baker who is nauseated by the sight of his own eclairs. This provides another good argument for the emerging theory that the best use of cryogenics is to freeze all human beings when they are between the ages of twelve and nineteen.”
—Anna Quindlen (20th century)