Heidelberg 2007 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 408: Kosmologie II

T 408.6: Talk

Thursday, March 8, 2007, 18:15–18:33, KIP SR 2.403

Quantum corrections and quintessence-like potentials — •Mathias Garny — Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Postfach 103980, D-69029 Heidelberg

Dynamical dark energy is one of the most popular alternatives to the cosmological constant to explain an accelerated expansion of the universe. In the context of quintessence models dynamical dark energy is described by a light scalar field rolling down its self-interaction potential. In this talk we investigate the stability of the potential with respect to quantum corrections induced by the scalar self-couplings, gravitational couplings as well as possible couplings of the quintessence field to massive standard model particles in the framework of low energy effective theories. Under certain assumptions this can lead to well-defined constraints for time-varying masses, and to deviations in the evolution of the equation of state from the standard tracking behaviour.