Strongly Coupled Quintessence

TL;DR

This paper introduces a family of strongly coupled quantum field theories of monodromy quintessence that model dark energy with potentials protected from quantum corrections, predicting an equation of state near -1.

Contribution

It develops consistent, strongly coupled monodromy quintessence models with discrete gauge symmetries that stabilize the theories against quantum corrections and predict observable dark energy properties.

Findings

Potential flattening at strong coupling scales (~mm^{-1})

Equation of state close to -1, within observational reach

Protection from quantum gravity corrections via discrete gauge symmetries

Abstract

We present a family of consistent quantum field theories of monodromy quintessence in strong coupling, which can serve as benchmarks in modeling dark energy different from cosmological constant. These theories have discrete gauge symmetries which can protect them from quantum field theory and quantum gravity corrections, both perturbative and nonperturbative. The strong coupling effects, at scales $\ga {\rm mm}^{-1}$, flatten the potential and activate operators with higher powers of derivatives. The predicted equation of state is close to, but not exactly equal to $-1$, thus being within reach of the (near!) future programs to explore the nature of dark energy.