# Cosmology in Mimetic SU(2) Gauge Theory

## TL;DR

This paper explores a mimetic SU(2) gauge theory in cosmology, revealing how mimetic constraints introduce unique energy density contributions that mimic spatial curvature effects, offering new insights into dark matter and curvature degeneracies.

## Contribution

It extends mimetic cosmology to SU(2) gauge fields, analyzing how mimetic constraints produce distinct energy components and disentangle curvature degeneracies in FLRW spacetimes.

## Key findings

- Mimetic SU(2) gauge fields produce radiation-like and curvature-like energy densities.
- The mimetic curvature term appears only dynamically, unlike standard curvature.
- Degeneracy between mimetic and standard curvature contributions is disentangled.

## Abstract

It is well known that the standard scalar field mimetic cosmology provides a dark matter-like energy density component. Considering $SU(2)$ gauge symmetry, we study the gauge field extension of the mimetic scenario in spatially flat and curved FLRW spacetimes. Because of the mimetic constraint, the standard Yang-Mills term plays the role of the cosmological constant while the mimetic term provides two different contributions: one is the standard radiation scaling like $ a^{-4}$ while the other contribution in energy density scales as $\propto a^{-2}$. Consequently, in the Friedmann equation we have two different energy densities which scale as $\propto a^{-2}$: one is the mimetic spatial curvature-like and the other is the standard spatial curvature which can compete with each other. The degeneracy between these two contributions are disentangled in this scenario since the mimetic spatial curvature-like term shows up only at the dynamical level while the standard spatial curvature term shows up at both dynamical and kinematical levels.