Dark Energy and Dark Matter from an additional adiabatic fluid

TL;DR

This paper proposes a cosmological model where dark energy and dark matter emerge from an additional adiabatic fluid with a constant adiabatic index, fitting observational data and exploring implications for universe evolution.

Contribution

It introduces a novel adiabatic fluid model with constant gamma that unifies dark energy and dark matter explanations at the background level.

Findings

Model fits SNIa, H(z), and BAO data well.

Includes Lambda CDM as a special case when gamma=0.

Discusses early universe implications and perturbation growth.

Abstract

The Dark Sector is described by an additional barotropic fluid which evolves adiabatically during the universe's history and whose adiabatic exponent $\gamma$ is derived from the standard definitions of specific heats. Although in general $\gamma$ is a function of the redshift, the Hubble parameter and its derivatives, we find that our assumptions lead necessarily to solutions with $\gamma = $ constant in a FLRW universe. The adiabatic fluid acts effectively as the sum of two distinct components, one evolving like non-relativistic matter and the other depending on the value of the adiabatic index. This makes the model particularly interesting as a way of simultaneously explaining the nature of both Dark Energy and Dark Matter, at least at the level of the background cosmology. The $\Lambda$CDM model is included in this family of theories when $\gamma = 0$. We fit our model to SNIa, $H(z)$ and BAO data, discussing the model selection criteria. The implications for the early-universe and the growth of small perturbations in this model are also discussed.