Anthropic versus cosmological solutions to the coincidence problem

A. Barreira and P. P. Avelino
Phys. Rev. D 83, 103001 – Published 9 May 2011

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate possible solutions to the coincidence problem in flat phantom dark-energy models with a constant dark-energy equation of state and quintessence models with a linear scalar field potential. These models are representative of a broader class of cosmological scenarios in which the universe has a finite lifetime. We show that, in the absence of anthropic constraints, including a prior probability for the models inversely proportional to the total lifetime of the universe excludes models very close to the Λ cold dark matter model. This relates a cosmological solution to the coincidence problem with a dynamical dark-energy component having an equation-of-state parameter not too close to 1 at the present time. We further show that anthropic constraints, if they are sufficiently stringent, may solve the coincidence problem without the need for dynamical dark energy.

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  • Received 11 March 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.83.103001

© 2011 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

A. Barreira* and P. P. Avelino

  • Centro de Física do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
  • Departamento de Física da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal

  • *alex.mr.barreira@hotmail.com
  • ppavelin@fc.up.pt

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Issue

Vol. 83, Iss. 10 — 15 May 2011

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