A possible analogy between the dynamics of a skydiver and a scalar field: cosmological consequences

TL;DR

This paper explores a scalar field model inspired by skydiver dynamics, suggesting it can explain the Universe's accelerated expansion and future contraction, aligning with current cosmological observations.

Contribution

It introduces a scalar field model with a quadratic potential, drawing an analogy to skydiver terminal velocity, and demonstrates its viability as dark energy consistent with observations.

Findings

Universe was baryon and dark matter dominated in the past

Current acceleration is explained by the scalar field model

Future contraction phase is predicted by the model

Abstract

The cosmological consequences of a slow rolling scalar field with constant kinetic term in analogy to the vertical movement of a skydiver after reaching terminal velocity are investigated. It is shown that the terminal scalar field hypothesis is quite realistic. In this approach, the scalar field potential is given by a quadratic function of the field. This model provides solutions in which the Universe was dominated in the past by a mixture of baryons and dark matter, is currently accelerating (as indicated by type Ia supernovae data), but will be followed by a contraction phase. The theoretical predictions of this model are consistent with current observations, therefore, a terminal scalar field is a viable candidate to dark energy.