In this work we discuss a general approach for the dark energy thermodynamics considering a varying equation of state (EoS) parameter of the type $omega(a)=omega_0+F(a)$ and taking into account the role of a non-zero chemical potential $mu$. We derive generalized expressions for the entropy density, chemical potential and dark energy temperature $T$ and use the positiveness of the entropy to impose thermodynamic bounds on the EoS parameter $omega(a)$. In particular, we find that a phantom-like behavior $omega(a)< -1$ is allowed only when the chemical potential assumes negative values ($mu<0$).
So far, there have been no theories or observational data that deny the presence of interaction between dark energy and dark matter. We extend naturally the holographic dark energy (HDE) model, proposed by Granda and Oliveros, in which the dark energy density includes not only the square of the Hubble scale, but also the time derivative of the Hubble scale to the case with interaction and the analytic forms for the cosmic parameters are obtained under the specific boundary conditions. The various behaviors concerning the cosmic expansion depend on the introduced numerical parameters which are also constrained. The more general interacting model inherits the features of the previous ones of HDE, keeping the consistency of the theory.
We present a systematic exploration of dark energy and modified gravity models containing a single scalar field non-minimally coupled to the metric. Even though the parameter space is large, by exploiting an effective field theory (EFT) formulation and by imposing simple physical constraints such as stability conditions and (sub-)luminal propagation of perturbations, we arrive at a number of generic predictions. (1) The linear growth rate of matter density fluctuations is generally suppressed compared to $Lambda$CDM at intermediate redshifts ($0.5 lesssim z lesssim 1$), despite the introduction of an attractive long-range scalar force. This is due to the fact that, in self-accelerating models, the background gravitational coupling weakens at intermediate redshifts, over-compensating the effect of the attractive scalar force. (2) At higher redshifts, the opposite happens; we identify a period of super-growth when the linear growth rate is larger than that predicted by $Lambda$CDM. (3) The gravitational slip parameter $eta$ - the ratio of the space part of the metric perturbation to the time part - is bounded from above. For Brans-Dicke-type theories $eta$ is at most unity. For more general theories, $eta$ can exceed unity at intermediate redshifts, but not more than about $1.5$ if, at the same time, the linear growth rate is to be compatible with current observational constraints. We caution against phenomenological parametrization of data that do not correspond to predictions from viable physical theories. We advocate the EFT approach as a way to constrain new physics from future large-scale-structure data.
In this paper we introduce the fractional dark energy model, in which the accelerated expansion of the Universe is driven by a nonrelativistic gas (composed by either fermions or bosons) with a noncanonical kinetic term. The kinetic energy is inversely proportional to the cube of the absolute value of the momentum for a fluid with an equation of state parameter equal to minus one, and whose corresponding energy density mimics the one of the cosmological constant. In the general case, the dark energy equation of state parameter (times three) is precisely the exponent of the momentum in the kinetic term. We show that this inverse momentum operator appears in fractional quantum mechanics and it is the inverse of the Riesz fractional derivative. The observed vacuum energy can be obtained through the integral of the Fermi-Dirac (or Bose-Einstein) distribution and the lowest allowed energy of the particles. Finally, a possible thermal production and fate of fractional dark energy is investigated.
A number of stability criteria exist for dark energy theories, associated with requiring the absence of ghost, gradient and tachyonic instabilities. Tachyonic instabilities are the least well explored of these in the dark energy context and we here discuss and derive criteria for their presence and size in detail. Our findings suggest that, while the absence of ghost and gradient instabilities is indeed essential for physically viable models and so priors associated with the absence of such instabilities significantly increase the efficiency of parameter estimations without introducing unphysical biases, this is not the case for tachyonic instabilities. Even strong such instabilities can be present without spoiling the cosmological validity of the underlying models. Therefore, we caution against using exclusion priors based on requiring the absence of (strong) tachyonic instabilities in deriving cosmological parameter constraints. We illustrate this by explicitly computing such constraints within the context of Horndeski theories, while quantifying the size and effect of related tachyonic instabilities.