Universality for quintessence

TL;DR

This paper explores the application of renormalization group methods to quintessence models, establishing universality classes and analyzing the transition from matter dominance to dark energy dominance, including non-minimal coupling scenarios.

Contribution

It introduces a universal framework for quintessence models using renormalization group equations, simplifying the analysis of their evolution and transitions.

Findings

Quintessence naturally overtakes matter in most models.

Universality classes for quintessence are defined.

Non-minimal coupling models are effectively described.

Abstract

Several recent works suggested the possibility of describing inflation by means of a renormalization group equation. In this paper we discuss the application of these methods to models of quintessence. In this framework a period of exponential expansion corresponds to the slow evolution of the scalar field in the neighborhood of a fixed point. A minimal set of universality classes for models of quintessence is defined and the transition from a matter dominated to quintessence dominated universe is studied. Models in which quintessence is non-minimally coupled with gravity are also discussed. We show that the formalism proves to be extremely convenient to describe quintessence and moreover we find that in most of the models discussed in this work quintessence naturally takes over ordinary matter.