Unified Dark Matter Scalar Field Models

TL;DR

This paper reviews unified dark matter models using scalar fields, exploring their cosmological solutions and implications for galactic rotation curves, highlighting the potential of k-essence frameworks to describe dark sectors.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of k-essence scalar field models for unifying dark matter and dark energy, including solutions relevant for cosmology and galactic dynamics.

Findings

Scalar field models can simultaneously describe dark matter and dark energy.

Solutions around specific Lagrangians yield realistic cosmic evolution.

Static solutions relate to galactic halo rotation curves.

Abstract

In this work we analyze and review cosmological models in which the dynamics of a single scalar field accounts for a unified description of the Dark Matter and Dark Energy sectors, dubbed Unified Dark Matter (UDM) models. In this framework, we consider the general Lagrangian of k-essence, which allows to find solutions around which the scalar field describes the desired mixture of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. We also discuss static and spherically symmetric solutions of Einstein's equations for a scalar field with non-canonical kinetic term, in connection with galactic halo rotation curves.